Mindset, Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg Halle, Salzburg, Austria 2025

27 July – 27 September 2025

The exhibition Mindset presents new works by Austrian artist Erwin Wurm. Physicality and the process of absorption are central themes in Wurm’s sculptural practice, as is the relationship between self-image, identity and social norms. Created since 2024, his Mind Bubbles place ovular forms atop spindly, cartoon-like legs in anthropomorphic reimaginings of the thought bubbles found in comic strips. Wurm describes the sculptural form as ‘a symbol of an idea or a specific thought, which is not described.’

The works exhibit distinct characteristics and personalities; cloaked in brightly colored garments or booted, they blur the boundary between the object and the body. Developing the fluid and abstracted form of the Mind Bubbles, Wurm explains that ‘now everything is liquid, they are bubbles, and they have two legs but they are not quite those of human beings.’ Abandoning the realism of his earlier works, Wurm states, ‘it’s not a question of creating a cynical image of human figures [...] but of bringing out an abstract quality in everyday realities.’ The sculptures in the exhibition result from the artist’s long preoccupation with psychological archetypes and the sculptural potential of different mental states. Distorted proportions, absurd poses and everyday objects converge to give tangible form to the inner world of thoughts and feelings.

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