The Great Wurm

The lowest point of his life marked the beginning of his internationally acclaimed career: Erwin Wurm stuck pens in museum staff’s noses and gherkins between their toes – the “One Minute Sculptures” are celebrating their 30th anniversary this year. They have contributed to changing the very concept of sculpture in a way that will last for generations. Today, Wurm is one of the most significant contemporary artists, posing paradoxical questions in order to find better answers to pressing social issues.

Behind the hill with the twin trees, the flock of sheep is said to have taken refuge; twelve ewes and a ram, says Erwin Wurm. The sheep had been without a male companion for a long time, and now they are all waiting—not just for the symbolic arrival of spring—to rejuvenate the flock. “But the sheep are playing hard to get,” grins the sculptor, “they’re giving the ram the cold shoulder and turning him down time and again,” he says amusedly, taking a little hop forward to mimic the coy ewes, as if they were standing behind him in the paddock. However, there’s not a sheep to be seen far and wide; it’s early January and bitterly cold. The animals have probably retreated to their barn.

Wurm sits on the wooden fence. In the paddock behind him stands one of his ‘Fat Houses’; in front of him, two men’s legs protrude into the air from a cloud of aluminium glistening in the sunshine. The sculpture is secured to a wooden pallet with wide straps. It is unclear whether it has just been returned or is being prepared for transport to one of his numerous exhibitions.