Human Form, Towada Art Center, Towada, Japan

12 April – 16 November 2025
Curated by Nakagawa Chieko

The Towada Art Center will present Erwin Wurm’s first solo show in Japan. The Towada Art Center is the only institution in Japan with a permanent display of Wurm’s works, which include Fat Car and Fat House.

Recognised as one of Austria’s most significant contemporary artists, Erwin Wurm redefines and expands the boundaries of sculpture, employing a wide range of media—from traditional materials like plaster and metal to photography, clothing, and paint.

In this exhibition, Wurm explores the human body, one of the most fundamental sculptural motifs, through themes of time, volume and surface, figuration, and representation. The human form—shaped by external influences such as clothing, furniture, language, and social ideologies—is depicted as fragile, mutable, and filled with boundless possibilities. Often absurd and paradoxical, Wurm’s works expose the structures underlying social norms, institutions, and power.

The exhibition will feature the Japan premiere of Wurm’s latest large-scale installation, School (2024), along with recent key works from his Skins and Flat Sculpture series.

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