Erwin Wurm

Erwin Wurm (born 1954, Bruck an der Mur, Austria) is one of the most significant European sculptors of his generation. His practice extends across object, performance, photography, video, and instruction, consistently testing the limits of what sculpture can be. Best known internationally for the One Minute Sculptures — works in which participants adopt absurd poses with everyday objects for sixty seconds — his earlier work of the late 1980s and early 1990s is less widely documented and increasingly sought after. Publications from this formative period, including exhibition catalogues from Kunstverein in Hamburg, Villa Arson, and related institutions, record a practice still in construction.

  • Cover of Erwin Wurm, Kunstverein in Hamburg / Villa Arson, Nice, 1993, showing a plain dark grey-green softcover with ERWIN WURM in small debossed type at centre and KUNSTVEREIN IN HAMBURG / VILLA ARSON NICE in small debossed type at lower left. Interior spread of Erwin Wurm, Kunstverein in Hamburg / Villa Arson, 1993, showing four black-and-white photographs arranged in a two-by-two grid on a black ground, each depicting a figure whose head and upper body are entirely concealed within an oversized knitted sweater, the body contorted into abstract sculptural forms.

    Erwin Wurm — Kunstverein in Hamburg / Villa Arson, Nice, 1993

    Erwin Wurm — Kunstverein in Hamburg / Villa Arson, Nice, 1993