Deep, Museo Correr, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice, Italy

27 September – 24 November 2024

Erwin Wurm's practice explores and encloses various genres, with a particular attention on rethinking and questioning the concept of sculpture itself. During his career, he has constantly pushed its limits and conventions, dissolving its spatial and temporal boundaries. By doing so Wurm has developed new and innovative way of artistic expression. With his One Minute Sculptures, the public is invited to interact with everyday objects for a short time frame. 
 
Started in the late 1980s, the theme of clothing has played a key role throughout Erwin Wurm’s career. Means of self-expression of personality, they also serve as second skin redefining body surfaces and volumes. In the new series Substitutes and Neuroses, the garments are hollow like ancient bronze sculptures and only take shape through their thin metal skin. Erwin Wurm designs them as surrogates that have presence only in the form of their shell, which gives them shape but almost no volume. At the same time, these works pose existential questions about our values and invite the viewer to engage in self-reflection. 
 
With the Murano glass sculptures, also presented in this occasion, Erwin Wurm explores other iconic motifs of our society while radically changing their sculptural aspect. Ice Convertible or the Ice House question sculptural issues related to volumes and forms, and in doing so they enlighten some critical aspect of our consumerist culture. 
 

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