Erwin Wurm
late 1980s-ongoing
About five years ago I taught an art class for a group of grade school students, most of whom had ADHD. Without a budget for supplies, I was faced with the same dilemma that led Austrian artist Erwin Wurm, during his art school days, to use everyday objects in his work. Exploring the time between action and sculpture, Wurm created an ongoing series of One Minute Sculptures that use bodies and everyday objects to realize instructional pieces. Literally taking pages out of his book, I'd hoped that minute-long art and moving quickly in between, like in a game of freeze tag, would utilize the kids' ADHD almost as a material.
Wurm's One Minute Sculpture above is, in yoga, a halfway tripod headstand. Without a chair, below is my half-sculpture.
