Erwin Wurm (b. 1954, Bruck an der Mur, Austria) lives and works in Vienna and Limberg. Widely regarded as one of the most influential Austrian artists of his generation, he rose to international prominence with his One Minute Sculptures, initiated in 1996–97. In these works, viewers are invited to create temporary and often absurd sculptural situations by following written or drawn instructions using everyday objects. Across more than five decades, Wurm has developed a sustained and frequently humorous investigation into the nature of sculpture itself, exploring its relationship to time, surface, mass and volume through the transformation, inflation and distortion of both the human body and familiar objects of daily life.

Educated at the Academy of Applied Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, Wurm originally intended to become a painter before turning to sculpture. This dialogue between the two disciplines continues to inform his practice, particularly in the “flat sculptures” he began producing in 2020, which treat the painted canvas as a sculptural object. His instantly recognisable imagery, ranging from oversized “fat” cars and houses to anthropomorphic sausages, gherkins and handbags balanced on elongated legs, combines comic exaggeration with a rigorous exploration of form, perception and corporeality.

Wurm’s work has been exhibited extensively in museums and galleries around the world. In 2017, he represented Austria at the 57th Venice Biennale alongside Brigitte Kowanz. In 2023, he presented Trap of the Truth, his first solo museum exhibition in the United Kingdom, at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and in 2024 the Albertina Modern in Vienna organised a major retrospective celebrating his seventieth birthday. Patricia Low Contemporary has presented several solo exhibitions of his work in Gstaad, including Erwin Wurm (2024) and Erwin Wurm: In Focus (2023).

His work is represented in numerous major public collections worldwide, including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt, Tate in London, Kunsthaus Zürich, the Albertina in Vienna and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, among many others.