1954 | Born in Bruck an der Mur, Styria, Austria; he lives and works in Vienna and Limberg, Austria.

Throughout his career, Erwin Wurm has radically redefined the concepts of sculpture, space, and the human form. His work moves fluidly between abstraction and representation, transforming everyday objects in unexpected and inventive ways, and inviting viewers to see the familiar from a fresh perspective. Wurm’s art often explores the routines and choices of daily life, as well as deeper existential questions, focusing on the objects through which we define and navigate our identities—clothing, cars, food, and the spaces we inhabit. This inquiry is central to his One Minute Sculptures, in which the viewer becomes the artwork for a fleeting, performative moment, using simple props. In these works, Wurm blurs the line between sculpture and spectator, turning a traditionally static medium into a participatory experience that involves the viewer’s own body. The sculptures’ ephemeral nature challenges the notion of permanence typically associated with sculpture. The “minute” refers not to a literal unit of time, but to the transient quality of the gesture. Underlying many of these works is a contemplative, even philosophical current—each piece serving as a prompt for reflection, placing participants in a paradoxical relationship with the ordinary objects they are asked to engage with.