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MAK Dialogues: Erwin Wurm

MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
Erwin Wurm, Double Navel, 2018
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 
 

MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
from left to right: Erwin Wurm, Peace Cautious, 2018
Female, 2020
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
from left to right: Erwin Wurm, Ear Pointer, 2018 
Double Ear Head, 2018 
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
Erwin Wurm, North Face Fingers, 2020 
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
Erwin Wurm, Excitement, 2020 
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

Erwin Wurm, Peace Cautious (Dissolution), 2018
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

Erwin Wurm, Belly Cheek (Dissolution), 2020
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
© Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

Erwin Wurm, Challenge (Dissolution), 2020
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

Erwin Wurm, Three (Dissolution), 2018
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

Erwin Wurm, Middle Finger (Dissolution), 2018
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

ERWIN WURM

Dissolution

Sat, 8.5.2021–Sun, 5.12.2021

MAK Geymüllerschlössel

Exhibition at the Geymüllerschlössel

ERWIN WURM

Dissolution

Sat, 8.5.2021–Sun, 5.12.2021

MAK Geymüllerschlössel

Gestural ceramic sculptures are the focus of the MAK exhibition, presenting Erwin Wurm’s sculptural series Dissolution (2018–2020) in a museum context for the first time. Performative gestures determine these anthropomorphic sculptures, whose forms oscillate between the ephemeral and the physical. The sculptures affirm the inherent plasticity of clay as material, recalling the potency of bozzetti, preliminary sketch-like models in which artists from the Renaissance onwards gave direct expression to their innermost creative ideas. With Dissolution, Wurm sets out in search of a creative process that cannot be completely controlled. The word “dissolution” has connotations of disintegration, decay, decomposition, and vanishing boundaries. The sculptures—with their protruding fingers, hands, lips, mouths, breasts, bellies, navels, noses, and ears—force their way out of a mass of clay.

 
Erwin Wurm’s ceramic sculptures, reminiscent of abstract characters, mirror deconstructions, deformations, distortions, contortions, as well as dissolution and decline—though all the time the artist is playing with paradox. In these sculptural forms Wurm combines realism with abstraction. The multifaceted gestures of an imaginary role play are familiar to us; at the same time, the abstract, sculptural forms assume figurative, human traits.
 
The sculptural body segments invade the Geymüllerschlössel’s interior, creating tableaux vivants—dramaturgical arrangements located between movement and stasis, history and the present—in individual rooms and salons: the entrance hall, the library, the music room, the cupola room, the bedroom, the oriental room, and before a wallpaper panorama reflecting the weltanschauung of European colonialism.
 
In the garden of the Schlössel, Erwin Wurm’s sculptures of Carrara marble connect up with the artist’s role in critically illuminating and distorting our world.

Curator: Bärbel Vischer 

Kindly supported by

Logo Dorotheum                             

Thanks to Thaddaeus Ropac
London, Paris, Salzburg
 

PUBLICATION

The exhibition is accompanied by the catalog ERWIN WURM: Dissolution, edited by Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, Rainald Franz, and Bärbel Vischer. With contributions by Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, Rainald Franz, and Bärbel Vischer as well as an interview with the artist. German/English, 64 pages with numerous color illustrations. MAK, Vienna/arnoldsche Art Publishers, Stuttgart 2021. Available at the MAK Design Shop and online at MAKdesignshop.at for € 29.
 

LOCATION

MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
Pötzleinsdorfer Straße 102, 1180 Vienna
Opening hours: Saturday & Sunday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m. 

OPENING HOURS 2021

8 May until 5 December 2021
Saturday & Sunday, 11a.m.–6 p.m.

 

ADMISSION

€ 6
Free admission for children and teens under 19
Free admission with MAK Annual Ticket


Related

Online Zoom Talk

MAK Dialogues: Erwin Wurm

TICKETAKTION

MAK x PARALLEL VIENNA 2021



Media

<BODY><div><div>MAK Exhibition View, 2021</div><div>ERWIN WURM. Dissolution </div><div>MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel</div><div>© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021</div><div>Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK</div><div> </div></div><br /></BODY>
MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

<BODY><div><div>MAK Exhibition View, 2021</div><div>ERWIN WURM. Dissolution </div><div>Erwin Wurm, Double Navel, 2018</div><div>Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac</div><div>MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel</div><div>© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021</div><div>Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK</div><div> </div></div><br /></BODY>
MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
Erwin Wurm, Double Navel, 2018
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

<BODY><div><div>MAK Exhibition View, 2021</div><div>ERWIN WURM. Dissolution </div><div>MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel</div><div>© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021</div><div>Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK</div><div> </div></div><br /></BODY>
MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

<BODY><div><div>MAK Exhibition View, 2021</div><div>ERWIN WURM. Dissolution </div><div>MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel</div><div>© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021</div><div>Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK</div><div> </div></div><div> </div></BODY>
MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 
 
<BODY><div><div>MAK Exhibition View, 2021</div><div>ERWIN WURM. Dissolution </div><div>from left to right: Erwin Wurm, Peace Cautious, 2018</div><div>Female, 2020</div><div>Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac</div><div>MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel</div><div>© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021</div><div>Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK</div><div> </div></div><br /></BODY>
MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
from left to right: Erwin Wurm, Peace Cautious, 2018
Female, 2020
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

<BODY><div><div>MAK Exhibition View, 2021</div><div>ERWIN WURM. Dissolution </div><div>MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel</div><div>© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021</div><div>Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK</div><div> </div></div><br /></BODY>
MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

<BODY><div><div>MAK Exhibition View, 2021</div><div>ERWIN WURM. Dissolution </div><div>MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel</div><div>© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021</div><div>Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK</div><div> </div></div><br /></BODY>
MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

<BODY><div><div>MAK Exhibition View, 2021</div><div>ERWIN WURM. Dissolution </div><div>from left to right: Erwin Wurm, Ear Pointer, 2018 </div><div>Double Ear Head, 2018 </div><div>Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac</div><div>MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel</div><div>© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021</div><div>Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK</div><div> </div></div><br /></BODY>
MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
from left to right: Erwin Wurm, Ear Pointer, 2018 
Double Ear Head, 2018 
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

<BODY><div><div>MAK Exhibition View, 2021</div><div>ERWIN WURM. Dissolution </div><div>Erwin Wurm, North Face Fingers, 2020 </div><div>Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac</div><div>MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel</div><div>© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021</div><div>Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK</div><div> </div></div><br /></BODY>
MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
Erwin Wurm, North Face Fingers, 2020 
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

<BODY><div><div>MAK Exhibition View, 2021</div><div>ERWIN WURM. Dissolution </div><div>MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel</div><div>© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021</div><div>Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK</div><div> </div></div><br /></BODY>
MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

<BODY><div><div>MAK Exhibition View, 2021</div><div>ERWIN WURM. Dissolution </div><div>Erwin Wurm, Excitement, 2020 </div><div>Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac</div><div>MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel</div><div>© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021</div><div>Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK</div><div> </div></div><br /></BODY>
MAK Exhibition View, 2021
ERWIN WURM. Dissolution 
Erwin Wurm, Excitement, 2020 
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

<BODY><div><div>Erwin Wurm, Peace Cautious (Dissolution), 2018</div><div>Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac</div><div>© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021</div><div>Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK</div><div> </div></div><br /></BODY>
Erwin Wurm, Peace Cautious (Dissolution), 2018
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

<BODY><div><div>Erwin Wurm, Belly Cheek (Dissolution), 2020</div><div>Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac</div><div>© Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK</div><div> </div></div><br /></BODY>
Erwin Wurm, Belly Cheek (Dissolution), 2020
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
© Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

<BODY><div><div>Erwin Wurm, Challenge (Dissolution), 2020</div><div>Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac</div><div>© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021</div><div>Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK</div><div> </div></div><br /></BODY>
Erwin Wurm, Challenge (Dissolution), 2020
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

<BODY><div><div>Erwin Wurm, Three (Dissolution), 2018</div><div>Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac</div><div>© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021</div><div>Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK</div><div> </div></div><br /></BODY>
Erwin Wurm, Three (Dissolution), 2018
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

<BODY><div><div>Erwin Wurm, Middle Finger (Dissolution), 2018</div><div>Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac</div><div>© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021</div><div>Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK</div><div> </div></div><br /></BODY>
Erwin Wurm, Middle Finger (Dissolution), 2018
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2021
Photo: Aslan Kudrnofsky/MAK
 

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