My Erwin Wurm approach

I was intigued by one of the series of works by Erwin Wurm called 'Instructions on how to be politically incorrect'. In this series he sets up situations of people doing things that we would definately not do in public because they're actions that display a sense of rudeness and wrongness. I thought it would be a good idea to walk around Manchester with my camera and ask certain members of the public if I could take a photo of them doing things that they feel would be 'inappropriate'. I was confident that I would ask lots of people and get a wide range of images showing different levels of 'inappropriateness' but when I got there I became very nervous and didn't want to ask anyone. I had in mind that I would ask people of all ages and wouldn't give any influence for what actions they could do infront of the camera, this would have gave me an idea of what age groups think acts as an 'inappropriate' action. I was practicing with my friend, Adam, saying to him what I would ask the members of the public but when the time came, I was too shy and ended up not asking anyone! I even asked my friend to set me tasks to make me feel more confident throughout the day. I ended up being told to lie down flat on my back at various points in Manchester city center, I felt that much of an idiot that when I got up I felt as though I could request the most outrageous photographic poses for the public to do but it wore off too quick and I went home with no photos. I knew I needed to do the work so planned to return 2 days later on friday!

Power point presentation 2 - book

This power point is about one of Erwin Wurm's book.

The title of his book is significant in the way that it suggests what his art is about. ''The artist who swallowed the world'' suggests his work revolves around real life. He looks at the world and gathers information on different aspects of life then turns this into a funny and thought provoking art form.

When I first saw the book I immediately liked it because of the bright colour and cushiony feel to the cover. The book looked fun and comfortable which was a large contrast to the dull coloured books which surrounded it.

Throughout the book there were little drawings and bits of hand writing which came from the artists personal notebook. These scribbles were instructions which he left for people to follow and complete the tasks which he had set them to do. The drawings gave the book a personal touch, it gave a connection between me and the artist.

Wurm believes that there are no rules to say what art is and what art isn't, this is reflected in the work that he produces which questions what catagories of art his work actually fits into if any? He likes how art gives us the ability to create new realities or parallel realities, this is also reflected in his work as it stretches the immagination and limits of everyday life, making it into something we recognise but in a different way to what we're used to.

Power point presentation

Erwin Wurm was born in 1954, he's an australian artists and currently lives and works in Austria. All of his work uses humour to describe serious matters, he was quoted in an interview: "If you approach things with a sense of humor, people immediately assume you're not to be taken seriously. But I think truths about society and human existence can be approached in different ways. You don't always have to be deadly serious. Sarcasm and humor can help you see things in a lighter vein." His most popular series of work is 'One minute sculptures'

  

Wurm has a very comtempary and humourous approach, he isn't traditional, serious or boring. he stetches the limits of what we can do by getting people to stand in weird positions with random everyday objects. The 'do it yourself' approach came form how he allowed visiters to the gallery to be apart of his work, he would leave instructions for them to pose in certain ways, they would take a photo of themselves doing so then send it to him to sign and send back. Most of his work shows the relationship between us and the everyday objects that surround us.

These are some of the photos from the series one minute sculptures. He uses himself and other people in this work, he gets them to pose in strange, un natural ways showing the relationship between them and everyday objects. He expresses the awkwardness and limits of the human body in relation to the things which surround us. This work does make people think, at what point does a still action from a person become a sculpture? and when does taking a photo of the sculpture become photography? it's kind of questionning what catagories of art does each piece fit into. Wurms work is very inspirational, It's different and ambiguous. The video 'Cant Stop' by red hot chili peppers features inspiration from his one minute sculptures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfOdWSiyWoc

The link above is the music video for the song 'Can't Stop' by Red Hot Chili Peppers. They interpret wurms work in more of a childish, fun way which exhaggerates the humour and shows that anyone can by part of the do it yourself aspect of art.

These photos are from the series 'instructions on how to be politically incorrect' which Wurm did in 2002-2003. These photos show what we wouldn't do in public but in a funny way, they're serious matters which wouldn't be taken so lightly if we actually did them.

Another series which I thought was very interesting is 'instructions for idleness' which was made in 2001. These photos show Wurm himself reanacting situations of idleness which we all do. Theyre quite comical and spontanious.

For the work where he gets people to pose in weird, un natural positions, gravity doesn't allow them to stay like that for a very long time so he has to quickly capture his sculptures using photography or video. This quick recording expresses his interest in the relationship between time and sculpture. Alot of his work is done within the exhibition space, he takes a very spontanious approach and has previously left instructions for the visitors to the gallery to be the work. He would tell them how to pose, get hem to photograph it and send the result to him.

His work is very popular because it's so different and interesting. His work has been published in about 35 different books but the main ones are the ones on my slide.

His work has also been displayed in many different galleries which once again proves the popularity of what he does.








I was worried about giving my presentation because, like many people, I'm not keen on speaking infront of groups. I was surprised at how easy it was and how comfortable I felt speaking infront of the group. I think I was so relaxed because the presentations were informal and only infront of a group of about 10. More of these little informal gatherings will boost my confidence until I am able to stand infront of larger groups and talk about my work. It was really interesting to learn about all of the other photographers that the other students had been researching and now I have a wider range of artists to look up and research in the future.

Erwin Wurm

The photographer I was given is Erwin Wurm, I hadn't heard of him or seen any of his work so was eager to find out what approach he takes. When I got home I typed his name into google and my immediate thought was 'oh god..' Although, I did have an instant like to his work. The photos which stood out were of his series 'One Minute Sculptures'.

At first I didn't realise these sculptures were made using real life people so I questionned the 'photography' element of this particular series.