DUST SCULPTURES

Erwin Wurm is best known for his broader sculptural practice, this book focuses on his “Dust Sculptures,” a pivotal body of work from the early 1990s. Around 1990, Wurm reached what he called a “point zero of sculpture,” reducing form to its most minimal trace. Instead of traditional objects, he created the appearance of dust residues left behind after an object is removed. Using stencils and vacuum-cleaner dust, he fabricated these traces on sidewalks, chairs, and urban surfaces. Between 1990 and 1994, he photographed these fragile interventions as “photographic sculptures.” The works present absence itself: invented evidence of presence, where dust becomes the sculptural material. Photography is their only lasting form.