Erwin Wurm – Bei Mutti

This book presents the most recent and hugely popular work of the Viennese artist Erwin Wurm, who is known for his quirky and compelling art. Erwin Wurm’s works occupy 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 Erwin Wurm’s work.