Erwin Wurm

Erwin Wurm (1954, Bruck an der Mur, Austria) lives and works in Vienna and Limberg. Internationally recognized for expanding the definition of sculpture, Wurm challenges traditional ideas of mass, volume, time, and surface, moving fluidly between object, performance, photography, and architecture. Wurm gained early acclaim with his “One Minute Sculptures” (begun 1996–97), in which participants enact brief poses with everyday objects, blurring the boundaries between performer and spectator, artwork and daily life. Throughout his practice, Wurm anthropomorphises familiar form – handbags with legs, “fat” cars and houses, distended or shrunken bodies – using absurdity and humor as tools to probe psychological and social tensions. His work often critiques contemporary consumer culture and the contradictions of modern life, operating in the space between the ordinary and the absurd.

Wurm’s work has been the subject of major solo exhibitions at institutions including the Albertina (Vienna), Yorkshire Sculpture Park (UK), Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Suwon Museum of Art (South Korea), Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Vancouver Art Gallery, and Tate Modern (London), among many others. His sculptures and installations have featured in significant group exhibitions worldwide, and his work is held in leading collections such as Centre Pompidou (Paris), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and MoMA (New York), Tate Modern (London), Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Venice), and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Humlebaek). Wurm has participated in multiple editions of the Venice Biennale, notably representing Austria in 2017.