ExhibitionOctober 15, 2024
Erwin Wurm: A 70th Birthday Retrospective
On the occasion of Erwin Wurm’s (* 1954 Bruck/Mur) 70th birthday, Albertina Modern presents the first comprehensive retrospective of his multifaceted work, which invites us to contemplate the paradoxes and absurdities of our world through sculptures, drawings and instructions, videos, and photographs.
In his artistic method, Erwin Wurm examines the sculptural concept; the boundaries between traditional concepts of sculpture, performance, photography, or painting are called into question, just as statics and movement within a work of art are redefined. Wurm overturns the habitual perception of the reality surrounding us and, with his artworks, opens up opportunities to raise new perspectives and questions: What happens if I disregard gravity? What if houses start melting away or are squashed by performative interventions? How do bodies and spaces behave when the absurd and paradoxical have room to exist in them? How can you, in the One Minute Sculptures, briefly become part of a work of art, and how does that feel? As the artist himself explains, it is always about the sculptural concept of the social. For example, a pickle may well be declared a self-portrait or a lavish luxury convertible like the Fat Car as a symbol of greed, excess, and commodity fetishism in our society. On the other hand, the Narrow House conceptually reflects the narrowness of bourgeois thinking and action and the restrictiveness of social norms, whether through religion, convention, or faux pathos. Relating to this, the show, for the first time, presents Rural School, which stands for restrictive and now outdated ideas and is another symbol of restrictive and judgmental models of thought.
In his new works, Erwin Wurm stays committed to working innovatively with the sculptural parameters of hull, mass, skin, volume, and time. In the Substitutes, for example, the body disappears, and the clothes remain as a ghostly relic, like a phantom. The Skins show only narrow corporeal ribbons, which—like spatial drawings—become the echo of a sculptural movement. In the Flat Sculptures, on the other hand, flattened sprawling letters conquer the three-dimensional canvas, making the words they shape hard to read. In these works, Wurm, who once wanted to become a painter, continues exploring color and language. However, as the series title suggests, he still breaks tradition by making a painting a spatial, rather than a two-dimensional, experience. Wurm’s work illustrates how much it is about discovery, about continually rethinking and redesigning what already exists.
The exhibition combines major works from Erwin Wurm’s art career stages. From his early wood and dust sculptures to his most recent works, some of which are being shown for the first time in this exhibition. Juxtaposed with these are works that earned him his international fame, like the One Minute Sculptures, the Fat Car, and a Narrow House.
The exhibition is on view at the Albertina Modern Museum from 13 September 2024 to 9 March 2025.
In his artistic method, Erwin Wurm examines the sculptural concept; the boundaries between traditional concepts of sculpture, performance, photography, or painting are called into question, just as statics and movement within a work of art are redefined. Wurm overturns the habitual perception of the reality surrounding us and, with his artworks, opens up opportunities to raise new perspectives and questions: What happens if I disregard gravity? What if houses start melting away or are squashed by performative interventions? How do bodies and spaces behave when the absurd and paradoxical have room to exist in them? How can you, in the One Minute Sculptures, briefly become part of a work of art, and how does that feel? As the artist himself explains, it is always about the sculptural concept of the social. For example, a pickle may well be declared a self-portrait or a lavish luxury convertible like the Fat Car as a symbol of greed, excess, and commodity fetishism in our society. On the other hand, the Narrow House conceptually reflects the narrowness of bourgeois thinking and action and the restrictiveness of social norms, whether through religion, convention, or faux pathos. Relating to this, the show, for the first time, presents Rural School, which stands for restrictive and now outdated ideas and is another symbol of restrictive and judgmental models of thought.
In his new works, Erwin Wurm stays committed to working innovatively with the sculptural parameters of hull, mass, skin, volume, and time. In the Substitutes, for example, the body disappears, and the clothes remain as a ghostly relic, like a phantom. The Skins show only narrow corporeal ribbons, which—like spatial drawings—become the echo of a sculptural movement. In the Flat Sculptures, on the other hand, flattened sprawling letters conquer the three-dimensional canvas, making the words they shape hard to read. In these works, Wurm, who once wanted to become a painter, continues exploring color and language. However, as the series title suggests, he still breaks tradition by making a painting a spatial, rather than a two-dimensional, experience. Wurm’s work illustrates how much it is about discovery, about continually rethinking and redesigning what already exists.
The exhibition combines major works from Erwin Wurm’s art career stages. From his early wood and dust sculptures to his most recent works, some of which are being shown for the first time in this exhibition. Juxtaposed with these are works that earned him his international fame, like the One Minute Sculptures, the Fat Car, and a Narrow House.
The exhibition is on view at the Albertina Modern Museum from 13 September 2024 to 9 March 2025.
Gallery
