He is born Vienna, 1940) studied at the Art Academy and Vienna University. Media artist and theoretician, he has experimented with film, electronic video production and machines. He has exhibited internationally since the early 1970s. Kriesche's work in media has tackled many themes involving social and aesthetic processes. It has touched on surveillance, stock exchange and its influence, broadcasting, politics, culture, code and capital.
He spent 1970/71 on a grant at the Slade School, London; was a DAAD fellow in Berlin, 1983/84; received the WPA (Washington Project for the Arts) grant in 1984; and spent 1985/68 at the Media Laboratory, Cambridge, Massachushetts. Subsequently he had professorships at the Technical University in Vienna, 1988/89; Hochschule für Gestaltung, Offenbach, 1991/96; École Nationale Superiéure des Beaux Arts, Paris, 1995/96; since 2004, he has been the director of Kulturdata.
Richard Kriesche has exhibited at Documenta 6 and 8; Ars Electronica, Linz, 1989, 1994, 2003, 2019; Artsat − Spacestation Mir, 1991; Venice Biennale in 1970, 1986, and in 1995, when he won a prize for the first installation in the Biennale.
He lives and works in Graz and Vienna.