About Erwin Wurm

Erwin Wurm is a sculptor, installation and multimedia artist. He is known for his humorous approach to formalism. For him, sarcasm and humor enable people to see things in a lighter way. His sculptures expand or manipulate reality in a disturbing way. He made a series of cars and houses. For example his work ‘truck’ was a truck leaning against a building; ‘Narrow house’ a thin claustrophobic house.

Since the late 1980s, Wurm has been making an ongoing series of One Minute Sculptures. In it, he poses himself or his models in unexpected relationships with everyday objects, causing the viewer to question the definition of sculpture. His sculptures are fleeting and intended to be spontaneous and temporary. Audiences were invited to take a pose and hold it for a minute, exactly the time it took to capture that pose on photo or film. One minute could feel like an eternity.

With his works Wurm criticizes our society, in particular the mentality and lifestyle in post-war Austria, in which he was raised. His criticism his translated into sculpture in a playful yet crude way.

Works by Erwin Wurm were shown three times during ART ZUID. The first edition (2009) featured the ‘Telekinetically bent VW Va’n – a Volkswagen van with a curve in it. In 2013 Big Pumpkin was shown, it depicted a man in pink clothes with a shapeless, large, yellow head reminiscent of a pumpkin and referring to a horror film. In 2019 Salatgurken was exhibited, they were three meter-high pickle sculptures.