Vivien Kohler was born in Cape Town in 1976, and lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa. He received his National Diploma in Fine Art from the Ruth Prowse School of Art and Design, Cape Town, 2000.

In 2017 Kohler received the Thami Mnyele Sculpture Merit Award, in 2013 won the Lovell Gallery Artist Competition, and in 2012 won the ItWeb/Brainstorm Competition with an entry commissioned by Vodacom.

His work is housed in both private and public collections including the Nando's Collection, the Hollard Collection, Vodacom Collection, SAB, Fusion UK, UNISA Gallery Collection, Artbank SA, William Humphreys Art Gallery Collection and Freedom Park Collection (PTA).

Kohler has produced six solo shows:
r3:FORM4re (Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg, 2019)
At the Still Point of the Turning World (Sulger-Buel Lovell Gallery, London, 2018)
Clay Opera (Sulger-Buel Lovell Gallery, London, 2017)
Residuum (Ilse Schermers Art Gallery, Franschhoek, 2016)
De(re)tritus (Lovell Gallery, Cape Town, 2014)
Given to Fly (Association of Visual Arts, Cape Town, 2012).