ERWIN WURM
PHOTOGRAPHIC SCULPTURES
FRANCISCO CAROLINUM LINZ, LINZ, AUSTRIA
7 MARCH – 7 SEPTEMBER 2025
Erwin Wurm is one of Austria’s most internationally renowned contemporary artists. With its photographic works, Francisco Carolinum Linz shows a part of its oeuvre that has rarely been seen before.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the artist began to rethink the concept of "sculpture." Wurm's ironic deconstruction of art-historical certainties ultimately led to a conception of sculpture that includes the processual, the temporary, the ephemeral, and the performative.
Media such as photography and video play an essential role in his oeuvre because they are suitable for capturing this ephemeral, processual character of his “sculptural actions” and sometimes transforming them back into objects. Consequently, the artist also calls his photographic works Photographic Sculptures.
The exhibition shows collages, contact sheets and prints from the artist's archive, some of which are being exhibited for the first time, as well as works from the well-known series 59 Positions or One Minute Sculptures and provides insight into the considerations that culminated in his later large-format works such as 'Fat Car' or 'Narrow House'.