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.