{"id":82872,"date":"2020-01-30T16:25:39","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T16:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/?p=82872"},"modified":"2020-01-30T17:08:22","modified_gmt":"2020-01-30T17:08:22","slug":"erwin-wurm-sculpture-absurd-new-york-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/erwin-wurm-sculpture-absurd-new-york-exhibition\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist Erwin Wurm on taking the seriousness out of sculpture"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82948,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11856,139],"tags":[6581,14858,3395,5829,1072,14859,6966,124,14857,1416,14856],"class_list":["post-82872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sleek-art","category-art","tag-austria","tag-bodies","tag-deconstruction","tag-erwin-wurm","tag-exhibition","tag-fragmentation","tag-humour","tag-new-york","tag-one-minute-sculpture","tag-sculpture","tag-theatre-of-the-absurd"],"acf":{"main_category":139,"legacy":false,"exclude_from_ads":[],"hero_title":"","subtitle":"The artist renowned for his playful \u201cOne-Minute Sculptures\u201d discusses growing up in Austria, deconstructing bodies, and the necessity of the absurd\u2014By Kathryn O' Regan ","hero":{"video":false,"image":false,"header_color":"black","overlay_color":"","overlay_text_color":"black"},"teasers":{"video":false,"image":{"ID":82948,"id":82948,"title":"EW-LM30872-Urinal-01-hr-512x640","filename":"EW-LM30872-Urinal-01-hr-512x640-1.jpg","filesize":29519,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30872-Urinal-01-hr-512x640-1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/erwin-wurm-sculpture-absurd-new-york-exhibition\/ew-lm30872-urinal-01-hr-512x640\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"ew-lm30872-urinal-01-hr-512x640","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":82872,"date":"2020-01-30 16:23:55","modified":"2020-01-30 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Urinal 01 hr","filename":"EW-LM30872-Urinal-01-hr.jpg","filesize":1147673,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30872-Urinal-01-hr.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/erwin-wurm-sculpture-absurd-new-york-exhibition\/ew-lm30872-urinal-01-hr\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"ew-lm30872-urinal-01-hr","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":82872,"date":"2020-01-28 15:42:45","modified":"2020-01-28 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2011\/2019. 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In the early 1990s, Austrian artist Erwin Wurm forged a name for himself off the back of his <\/span>One-Minute Sculptures<\/span><\/i><\/a>. Here, the artist would provide written and pictorial instructions to participants who would then perform a series of awkward poses, involving everyday objects such as knitted sweaters, fruit, chairs, brooms, bottles, buckets, whatever, in the exhibition space. The result\u2014subsequently documented in photographs\u2014were investigations into what a sculpture could be: not something fixed but ephemeral, participatory, and wildly playful.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of the ideas that Wurm addressed in this series continue to reverberate in his<\/span> latest exhibition<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Yes, Biological<\/span><\/i> currently on view at Lehmann Maupin in New York through to 22 February. Among the works on display, are a continuation of the <\/span>One-Minute Sculptures<\/span><\/i>: the series <\/span>One-Minute Forever<\/span><\/i> makes permanent in acrylic the movements and absurd poses of the earlier series. Using the tropes of classical Greek sculpture\u2014plinths, busts and chalky white casts\u2014Wurm reinvents the mode as unexpected and bizarre. For the artist, the sculptures also represent\u2014as he tells SLEEK\u2014 a desire to \u201cslow something so much down that it becomes sculptural.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":82875,"id":82875,"title":"EW-LM30876 Peace Cautious (Dissolution) hr","filename":"EW-LM30876-Peace-Cautious-Dissolution-hr.jpg","filesize":301725,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30876-Peace-Cautious-Dissolution-hr.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/erwin-wurm-sculpture-absurd-new-york-exhibition\/ew-lm30876-peace-cautious-dissolution-hr\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"ew-lm30876-peace-cautious-dissolution-hr","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":82872,"date":"2020-01-28 15:42:53","modified":"2020-01-28 15:42:53","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1280,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30876-Peace-Cautious-Dissolution-hr.jpg","thumbnail-width":64,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30876-Peace-Cautious-Dissolution-hr.jpg","medium-width":1280,"medium-height":1920,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30876-Peace-Cautious-Dissolution-hr.jpg","medium_large-width":1280,"medium_large-height":1920,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30876-Peace-Cautious-Dissolution-hr.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":1920,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30876-Peace-Cautious-Dissolution-hr.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30876-Peace-Cautious-Dissolution-hr.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1920,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30876-Peace-Cautious-Dissolution-hr.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":8,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30876-Peace-Cautious-Dissolution-hr.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1280,"wpvr_mobile-height":1920}},{"ID":82880,"id":82880,"title":"EW-LM30892 One Minute forever (hands_fruits) 01 hr","filename":"EW-LM30892-One-Minute-forever-hands_fruits-01-hr.jpg","filesize":189201,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30892-One-Minute-forever-hands_fruits-01-hr.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/erwin-wurm-sculpture-absurd-new-york-exhibition\/ew-lm30892-one-minute-forever-hands_fruits-01-hr\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"ew-lm30892-one-minute-forever-hands_fruits-01-hr","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":82872,"date":"2020-01-28 15:43:17","modified":"2020-01-28 15:43:17","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1280,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30892-One-Minute-forever-hands_fruits-01-hr.jpg","thumbnail-width":64,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30892-One-Minute-forever-hands_fruits-01-hr.jpg","medium-width":1280,"medium-height":1920,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30892-One-Minute-forever-hands_fruits-01-hr.jpg","medium_large-width":1280,"medium_large-height":1920,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30892-One-Minute-forever-hands_fruits-01-hr.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":1920,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30892-One-Minute-forever-hands_fruits-01-hr.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30892-One-Minute-forever-hands_fruits-01-hr.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1920,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30892-One-Minute-forever-hands_fruits-01-hr.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":8,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30892-One-Minute-forever-hands_fruits-01-hr.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1280,"wpvr_mobile-height":1920}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"4","caption":"Left: Peace Cautious (Dissolution), 2018 Right: One Minute Forever (hands\/fruits), 2019. "}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"

A focal point of <\/span>Yes, Biological <\/span><\/i>is the <\/span>Dissolution Series<\/span><\/i>\u2014a new corpus based on the abstraction of body parts. Here, the body is deconstructed into isolated pieces\u2014the lips, the nose, the fingers\u2014which are then drizzled in lilacs and pink glazes resembling dreamy birthday cakes. \u201cIn this series, I tried making up bodies and then started to demolish them, or deconstruct them, or change forms\u2014I tried to create something else and to bring something else out of it,\u201d says Wurm. According to the artist, this notion of deconstruction and fragmentation has the possibility to produce something altogether new, but in a positive sense. \u201cWhen you figure out everything is going to be damaged or destroyed, it creates something. It not only creates energy, it creates allure, even if at the very beginning it looks different in its destroyed form. But this keeps growing and it can turn in a positive way,\u201d he explains.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wurm\u2019s notion of sculpture is rooted in this idea of growth and transformation. \u201cThe changing volume is a very big part, what if I make it clear that if I add volume, or I take volume away from this thing, what meaning would occur\u2014that\u2019s the definition of my sculptural work,\u201d he says. Out of this flux and change, unexpected meanings or feelings, even, can radiate from his forms. \u201cCan it be possible to translate the notion of desperation, or of ridiculousness to sculpture? How can it happen?\u201d Wurm asks.<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":82879,"id":82879,"title":"EW-LM30888 Selfportrait with eyes 02 hr","filename":"EW-LM30888-Selfportrait-with-eyes-02-hr.jpg","filesize":331421,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30888-Selfportrait-with-eyes-02-hr.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/erwin-wurm-sculpture-absurd-new-york-exhibition\/ew-lm30888-selfportrait-with-eyes-02-hr\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"ew-lm30888-selfportrait-with-eyes-02-hr","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":82872,"date":"2020-01-28 15:43:12","modified":"2020-01-28 15:43:12","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1280,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30888-Selfportrait-with-eyes-02-hr.jpg","thumbnail-width":64,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30888-Selfportrait-with-eyes-02-hr.jpg","medium-width":1280,"medium-height":1920,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30888-Selfportrait-with-eyes-02-hr.jpg","medium_large-width":1280,"medium_large-height":1920,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30888-Selfportrait-with-eyes-02-hr.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":1920,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30888-Selfportrait-with-eyes-02-hr.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30888-Selfportrait-with-eyes-02-hr.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1920,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30888-Selfportrait-with-eyes-02-hr.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":8,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30888-Selfportrait-with-eyes-02-hr.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1280,"wpvr_mobile-height":1920}},{"ID":82878,"id":82878,"title":"EW-LM30886 One minute forever (Chair) hr","filename":"EW-LM30886-One-minute-forever-Chair-hr.jpg","filesize":279750,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30886-One-minute-forever-Chair-hr.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/erwin-wurm-sculpture-absurd-new-york-exhibition\/ew-lm30886-one-minute-forever-chair-hr\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"ew-lm30886-one-minute-forever-chair-hr","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":82872,"date":"2020-01-28 15:43:07","modified":"2020-01-28 15:43:07","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1280,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30886-One-minute-forever-Chair-hr.jpg","thumbnail-width":64,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30886-One-minute-forever-Chair-hr.jpg","medium-width":1280,"medium-height":1920,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30886-One-minute-forever-Chair-hr.jpg","medium_large-width":1280,"medium_large-height":1920,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30886-One-minute-forever-Chair-hr.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":1920,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30886-One-minute-forever-Chair-hr.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30886-One-minute-forever-Chair-hr.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1920,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30886-One-minute-forever-Chair-hr.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":8,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/EW-LM30886-One-minute-forever-Chair-hr.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1280,"wpvr_mobile-height":1920}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"4","caption":"Left: Selfportrait with eyes, 2019. Right: One Minute Forever (chair), 2019. \r\n"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"

This pursuit for new meanings and creation of possibilities has rightly lent Wurm\u2019s practice an absurdist overtone. It is a quality that can be seen from his <\/span>One-Minute Sculptures<\/span><\/i> through to his <\/span>One-Minute Forever<\/span><\/i> series and the <\/span>Dissolution<\/span><\/i> series. When asked how did this came to be an interest, Wurm relates it to his autobiography. \u201cMaybe it\u2019s because I am Austrian\u2026 who knows\u2026 I grew up in the \u201850s and \u201860s,\u00a0 and it was still a post-war society. And I was educated very different than how people are educated nowadays \u2026\u201d he notes. \u201cWhen I look back at that time it was very strict and very different than today. This makes me also think of aspects of Austrian society\u2014the novelist, Thomas Bernhard, for example. There is a certain approach, maybe also because Austria was a big country, a big powerful country and then it was cut down. You had to totally change the motion and content, or consciousness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Out of this bloomed a desire to rethink the seriousness that he was familiar with. \u201cThe art that I grew up with in the \u201860s and \u201870s spoke about the big issues and it was all very heavy and important…there was nothing nice about it. I believe questions need a cynical, critical and absurd underlying… like how the Theatre of the Absurd asked questions which sounded like nonsense, but, of course, behind the nonsense is a deeper sense and earnestness about these things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It is a sensibility that can be observed in the works on display at <\/span>Yes, Biological. <\/span><\/i>The seriousness of classical sculpture is dissolved leaving behind pieces that beam with fresh possibility. The grandiosity has been displaced, making way for humour and verve.\u00a0 \u201cI strongly believe in the positive development of an artwork,\u201d says Wurm. \u201cTo make work is fun and great, it\u2019s actually very fun.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"

Yes, Biological<\/span><\/a>\u00a0is currently on view at Lehmann Maupin in New York through to 22 February.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

All images by Erwin Wurm.\u00a0Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, and Seoul.<\/p>\n"}]},"yoast_head":"\nArtist Erwin Wurm on taking the seriousness out of sculpture Artist Erwin Wurm on taking the seriousness out of sculpture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/erwin-wurm-sculpture-absurd-new-york-exhibition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"de_DE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Artist Erwin Wurm on taking the seriousness out of sculpture Artist Erwin Wurm on taking the seriousness out of sculpture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/erwin-wurm-sculpture-absurd-new-york-exhibition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sleek Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sleekmag\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-30T16:25:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-30T17:08:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sleekmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sleekmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Verfasst von\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"sleek\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sleek Magazine\",\"description\":\"Sleek is Germany\u2019s leading independent media house\/brand for creativity and innovation located in Berlin the creative capital of the world. 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