Erwin Wurm, One Minute Sculptures 1997. Tate. © Erwin Wurm.
8 rooms in Performer and Participant
What happens when a sculpture is looked at as a performance?
Erwin Wurm challenges the idea that a sculpture must be solid, long-lasting, or even physically present. In his ongoing series, One Minute Sculptures, anonymous people take on unusual and fleeting interactions with everyday objects, which are then photographed by the artist. Here, a selection of photographs capture participants in absurd poses, such as balancing on a door or pressing buckets against a wall. A video nearby also shows the precarious nature of the interactions. The works transform moments of play and awkwardness into reflections on time, form, and the body in art.
Wurm provides instructions on how to perform the sculptures, often as a simple drawing or a written phrase. The participant then tries to hold the pose for 60 seconds. In this short timeframe, the performer becomes both the subject and the material of Wurm’s sculptures. Through humour and absurdity, the artist’s instructions prompt reflection on the seriousness that is usually assigned to art and art galleries.
Double Bucket, Wurm’s performance piece involving two plastic buckets and a plinth, will also be in this room at regular intervals. You are welcome to take part and try out becoming the art when the buckets are on display.
Erwin Wurm, One Minute Sculptures 1997
This colour photograph is one of a large number in Tate’s collection from Erwin Wurm’s series One Minute Sculptures (see Tate P14777–P14816 and Tate P82011–P82018). Wurm began his One Minute Sculptures in 1988, and has since been continuously contributing to the encyclopaedic series in myriad locations around the world. As well as photographs, the series comprises video (see One Minute Sculptures 1977, Tate T15047) and performance works (see Double Bucket 2009, Tate T15258, and Organisation of Love 2007, Tate T15257). The individual photographs feature images of people – anonymous participants, performers, curators, artists and even the artist himself – engaging in unconventional and sometimes physically challenging interactions with everyday objects such as clothing, buckets, balls, doorframes, bicycles and perishable goods. The resulting compositions feature unusual contortions – held for a minute – and illogical still-lives that are both humorous and provocative. While the photograph is the enduring record of each composition, the work comprises the entirety of the performative process, which begins with Wurm delivering instructions, both written and pictorial, to the subject of the ‘sculpture’. The participant subsequently enacts the determined formation or action and maintains it for a period of sixty seconds, during which time the pose is photographed. In a complex work that explores interaction, activation and the temporal, Wurm employs the photographic medium as a means of cataloguing his ephemeral studies.
1/23
artworks in Erwin Wurm
Erwin Wurm, One Minute Sculpture 1997
This colour photograph is one of a large number in Tate’s collection from Erwin Wurm’s series One Minute Sculptures (see Tate P14777–P14816 and Tate P82011–P82018). Wurm began his One Minute Sculptures in 1988, and has since been continuously contributing to the encyclopaedic series in myriad locations around the world. As well as photographs, the series comprises video (see One Minute Sculptures 1977, Tate T15047) and performance works (see Double Bucket 2009, Tate T15258, and Organisation of Love 2007, Tate T15257). The individual photographs feature images of people – anonymous participants, performers, curators, artists and even the artist himself – engaging in unconventional and sometimes physically challenging interactions with everyday objects such as clothing, buckets, balls, doorframes, bicycles and perishable goods. The resulting compositions feature unusual contortions – held for a minute – and illogical still-lives that are both humorous and provocative. While the photograph is the enduring record of each composition, the work comprises the entirety of the performative process, which begins with Wurm delivering instructions, both written and pictorial, to the subject of the ‘sculpture’. The participant subsequently enacts the determined formation or action and maintains it for a period of sixty seconds, during which time the pose is photographed. In a complex work that explores interaction, activation and the temporal, Wurm employs the photographic medium as a means of cataloguing his ephemeral studies.
8/23
artworks in Erwin Wurm
Erwin Wurm, One Minute Sculptures 1997
This colour photograph is one of a large number in Tate’s collection from Erwin Wurm’s series One Minute Sculptures (see Tate P14777–P14816 and Tate P82011–P82018). Wurm began his One Minute Sculptures in 1988, and has since been continuously contributing to the encyclopaedic series in myriad locations around the world. As well as photographs, the series comprises video (see One Minute Sculptures 1977, Tate T15047) and performance works (see Double Bucket 2009, Tate T15258, and Organisation of Love 2007, Tate T15257). The individual photographs feature images of people – anonymous participants, performers, curators, artists and even the artist himself – engaging in unconventional and sometimes physically challenging interactions with everyday objects such as clothing, buckets, balls, doorframes, bicycles and perishable goods. The resulting compositions feature unusual contortions – held for a minute – and illogical still-lives that are both humorous and provocative. While the photograph is the enduring record of each composition, the work comprises the entirety of the performative process, which begins with Wurm delivering instructions, both written and pictorial, to the subject of the ‘sculpture’. The participant subsequently enacts the determined formation or action and maintains it for a period of sixty seconds, during which time the pose is photographed. In a complex work that explores interaction, activation and the temporal, Wurm employs the photographic medium as a means of cataloguing his ephemeral studies.
9/23
artworks in Erwin Wurm
Erwin Wurm, One Minute Sculptures 1997
This colour photograph is one of a large number in Tate’s collection from Erwin Wurm’s series One Minute Sculptures (see Tate P14777–P14816 and Tate P82011–P82018). Wurm began his One Minute Sculptures in 1988, and has since been continuously contributing to the encyclopaedic series in myriad locations around the world. As well as photographs, the series comprises video (see One Minute Sculptures 1977, Tate T15047) and performance works (see Double Bucket 2009, Tate T15258, and Organisation of Love 2007, Tate T15257). The individual photographs feature images of people – anonymous participants, performers, curators, artists and even the artist himself – engaging in unconventional and sometimes physically challenging interactions with everyday objects such as clothing, buckets, balls, doorframes, bicycles and perishable goods. The resulting compositions feature unusual contortions – held for a minute – and illogical still-lives that are both humorous and provocative. While the photograph is the enduring record of each composition, the work comprises the entirety of the performative process, which begins with Wurm delivering instructions, both written and pictorial, to the subject of the ‘sculpture’. The participant subsequently enacts the determined formation or action and maintains it for a period of sixty seconds, during which time the pose is photographed. In a complex work that explores interaction, activation and the temporal, Wurm employs the photographic medium as a means of cataloguing his ephemeral studies.
10/23
artworks in Erwin Wurm
Erwin Wurm, One Minute Sculptures 1997
This colour photograph is one of a large number in Tate’s collection from Erwin Wurm’s series One Minute Sculptures (see Tate P14777–P14816 and Tate P82011–P82018). Wurm began his One Minute Sculptures in 1988, and has since been continuously contributing to the encyclopaedic series in myriad locations around the world. As well as photographs, the series comprises video (see One Minute Sculptures 1977, Tate T15047) and performance works (see Double Bucket 2009, Tate T15258, and Organisation of Love 2007, Tate T15257). The individual photographs feature images of people – anonymous participants, performers, curators, artists and even the artist himself – engaging in unconventional and sometimes physically challenging interactions with everyday objects such as clothing, buckets, balls, doorframes, bicycles and perishable goods. The resulting compositions feature unusual contortions – held for a minute – and illogical still-lives that are both humorous and provocative. While the photograph is the enduring record of each composition, the work comprises the entirety of the performative process, which begins with Wurm delivering instructions, both written and pictorial, to the subject of the ‘sculpture’. The participant subsequently enacts the determined formation or action and maintains it for a period of sixty seconds, during which time the pose is photographed. In a complex work that explores interaction, activation and the temporal, Wurm employs the photographic medium as a means of cataloguing his ephemeral studies.
11/23
artworks in Erwin Wurm
Erwin Wurm, One Minute Sculptures 1997
This colour photograph is one of a large number in Tate’s collection from Erwin Wurm’s series One Minute Sculptures (see Tate P14777–P14816 and Tate P82011–P82018). Wurm began his One Minute Sculptures in 1988, and has since been continuously contributing to the encyclopaedic series in myriad locations around the world. As well as photographs, the series comprises video (see One Minute Sculptures 1977, Tate T15047) and performance works (see Double Bucket 2009, Tate T15258, and Organisation of Love 2007, Tate T15257). The individual photographs feature images of people – anonymous participants, performers, curators, artists and even the artist himself – engaging in unconventional and sometimes physically challenging interactions with everyday objects such as clothing, buckets, balls, doorframes, bicycles and perishable goods. The resulting compositions feature unusual contortions – held for a minute – and illogical still-lives that are both humorous and provocative. While the photograph is the enduring record of each composition, the work comprises the entirety of the performative process, which begins with Wurm delivering instructions, both written and pictorial, to the subject of the ‘sculpture’. The participant subsequently enacts the determined formation or action and maintains it for a period of sixty seconds, during which time the pose is photographed. In a complex work that explores interaction, activation and the temporal, Wurm employs the photographic medium as a means of cataloguing his ephemeral studies.
12/23
artworks in Erwin Wurm
Erwin Wurm, One Minute Sculptures 1997
This colour photograph is one of a large number in Tate’s collection from Erwin Wurm’s series One Minute Sculptures (see Tate P14777–P14816 and Tate P82011–P82018). Wurm began his One Minute Sculptures in 1988, and has since been continuously contributing to the encyclopaedic series in myriad locations around the world. As well as photographs, the series comprises video (see One Minute Sculptures 1977, Tate T15047) and performance works (see Double Bucket 2009, Tate T15258, and Organisation of Love 2007, Tate T15257). The individual photographs feature images of people – anonymous participants, performers, curators, artists and even the artist himself – engaging in unconventional and sometimes physically challenging interactions with everyday objects such as clothing, buckets, balls, doorframes, bicycles and perishable goods. The resulting compositions feature unusual contortions – held for a minute – and illogical still-lives that are both humorous and provocative. While the photograph is the enduring record of each composition, the work comprises the entirety of the performative process, which begins with Wurm delivering instructions, both written and pictorial, to the subject of the ‘sculpture’. The participant subsequently enacts the determined formation or action and maintains it for a period of sixty seconds, during which time the pose is photographed. In a complex work that explores interaction, activation and the temporal, Wurm employs the photographic medium as a means of cataloguing his ephemeral studies.
13/23
artworks in Erwin Wurm
Erwin Wurm, Double Bucket 1997–2005
Double Bucket 2009 is a performance from Erwin Wurm’s extensive series of One Minute Sculptures in which people carry out unconventional interactions with everyday objects such as clothing, buckets, balls, doorframes, bicycles and even perishables. The interaction is held for a period of sixty seconds. Double Bucket materially consists of a low plinth and two plastic buckets. The instructions on how to perform the piece take the form of a drawing on paper by the artist as well as being hand-drawn by him on the plinth itself. The viewer is invited to complete the artwork by acting out the formation determined in the diagram and maintaining it for one minute. Here, they are encouraged to step fully inside one bucket and to place the other bucket on their head. The effect of acting out this sculpture is one of unusual behaviour, particularly in a museum setting, creating an illogical still-life which is both humorous and provocative. Wurm first began making One Minute Sculptures in 1988, and has since been continuously contributing to the encyclopaedic series in myriad locations around the world. The series spans the range of media central to Wurm’s practice, namely performance, sculpture, drawing and photography, and seeks to blur the distinctions between them. Photographs and video act as permanent records of the performances (see, for example, the photographs in Tate’s collection showing anonymous participants, performers, curators, artists and even the artist himself engaging in a range of One Minute Sculptures, P82011–P82018, P14777–P14816); but each work comprises the entirety of the performative process and its documentation.
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artworks in Erwin Wurm
Erwin Wurm, One Minute Sculptures 1997
This video with sound is shown on a monitor and lasts nearly forty-eight minutes. It is one of a large number of works, mainly photographs, in Tate’s collection that form part of Erwin Wurm’s series One Minute Sculptures (see Tate P14777–P14816 and Tate P82011–P82016). Wurm began his One Minute Sculptures in 1988, and has since been continuously contributing to the encyclopaedic series in myriad locations around the world. The individual photographs feature images of people – anonymous participants, performers, curators, artists and even the artist himself – engaging in unconventional and sometimes physically challenging interactions with everyday objects such as clothing, buckets, balls, doorframes, bicycles and perishable goods. The resulting compositions feature unusual contortions – held for a minute – and illogical still-lives that are both humorous and provocative. While the photograph is the enduring record of each composition, the work comprises the entirety of the performative process, which begins with Wurm delivering instructions, both written and pictorial, to the subject of the ‘sculpture’. The participant subsequently enacts the determined formation or action and maintains it for a period of sixty seconds, during which time the pose is photographed. In a complex work that explores interaction, activation and the temporal, Wurm employs the photographic medium as a means of cataloguing his ephemeral studies.
17/23
artworks in Erwin Wurm
Erwin Wurm, One Minute Sculptures 1997
This colour photograph is one of a large number in Tate’s collection from Erwin Wurm’s series One Minute Sculptures (see Tate P14777–P14816 and Tate P82011–P82018). Wurm began his One Minute Sculptures in 1988, and has since been continuously contributing to the encyclopaedic series in myriad locations around the world. As well as photographs, the series comprises video (see One Minute Sculptures 1977, Tate T15047) and performance works (see Double Bucket 2009, Tate T15258, and Organisation of Love 2007, Tate T15257). The individual photographs feature images of people – anonymous participants, performers, curators, artists and even the artist himself – engaging in unconventional and sometimes physically challenging interactions with everyday objects such as clothing, buckets, balls, doorframes, bicycles and perishable goods. The resulting compositions feature unusual contortions – held for a minute – and illogical still-lives that are both humorous and provocative. While the photograph is the enduring record of each composition, the work comprises the entirety of the performative process, which begins with Wurm delivering instructions, both written and pictorial, to the subject of the ‘sculpture’. The participant subsequently enacts the determined formation or action and maintains it for a period of sixty seconds, during which time the pose is photographed. In a complex work that explores interaction, activation and the temporal, Wurm employs the photographic medium as a means of cataloguing his ephemeral studies.
18/23
artworks in Erwin Wurm
Art in this room
Erwin Wurm
One Minute Sculptures
1997
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Erwin Wurm
One Minute Sculptures
1997–2005
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Erwin Wurm
One Minute Sculptures
1997–2005
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Erwin Wurm
One Minute Sculptures
1997–2005
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Erwin Wurm
One Minute Sculptures
1997–2005
Sorry, no image available
Erwin Wurm
One Minute Sculptures
1997–2005
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