Erwin Wurm: Bei Mutti

Berlinische Galerie 

Hardcover | 23.65 x 1.6 x 27.64 cm | 128 pp

Prestel | 2016 | 9783791355450

Text in English and German

Viennese artist Erwin Wurm is known for his quirky and compelling art that occupies a special place in contemporary art. Since the late 1980s he has explored the boundaries between sculpture, object, and performance. His works have great visual power, are readily accessible, yet raise existential questions.

The One Minute Sculptures, produced since 1995, invite the viewer’s collaboration. With everyday objects like tennis balls, chairs, or cleaning-agent bottles one is meant to assume unusual, bizarre poses and, if following the artist’s instructions precisely, become, for a moment, a living sculpture. The artist’s instructions take the form of delicate and humorous drawings that are published for the first time in this book.

With illustrations of Wurm’s newest sculptural works, the most recent developments in his oeuvre are also highlighted. The roughly 100 large-format illustrations are supplemented by three essays dealing with the most important issues in Wurm’s work.