Erwin Wurm was born in Bruck an der Mur, in Styria, Austria, in 1954. He began studying art history and German philology at the University of Graz in 1974. Beginning in 1977, he studied arts and handicraft education for two years at the Salzburg Hochschule für darstellende Kunst, a school for the performing arts. From 1979 to 1982 he then studied sculptural design at Vienna’s applied arts school, the Hochschule für angewandte Kunst, under Bazon Brock. Wurm has worked as a freelance artist since the 1980s. His works have been shown in exhibitions, including a number of solo shows, in Europe, Asia and the United States. He participated in the 44th Venice Biennale in 1990. From 2002 to 2010 Wurm taught as a professor of sculpture and multimedia at his Vienna alma mater. He primarily attempts to expand the concept of sculpture. Since 1997 he has worked on his possibly best-known series, his One Minute Sculptures, which require the active participation of the viewer. Some of the works from the series were shown at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt in 2014. Wurm lives and works in Vienna and Limberg, Austria.
