One Minute Sculpture with Erwin 2017

Editor: So, here we have Elina Brotherus's "One Minute Sculpture with Erwin" from 2017, a mixed-media work incorporating photography and performance. My first impression is how…awkwardly intimate it feels. Two people connected by these bizarre everyday objects. What do you see in this piece? Curator: It's interesting that you pick up on intimacy because for me, this work speaks to the very core of performance art's ability to destabilize our assumptions around relational dynamics. The readymade objects – a detergent bottle, a box – almost become stand-ins for societal pressures, anxieties, or even gendered roles in relationships. How do you interpret their shared gaze? Is it complicity? Defiance? Editor: I think I initially missed the weight of the everyday object in relation to their physical bodies. But when I refocus my observation, I recognize how the placement seems so calculated yet playful. It questions comfort and restriction within the interpersonal space. Curator: Precisely! This touches upon what Brotherus, and before her, Erwin Wurm who originated the "One Minute Sculpture", are probing. The ephemerality of the moment captured in contrast with the rigid structures we build around identity and relationships in everyday living. To me, the absurd poses enacted through this type of conceptual photography encourage viewers to question our perceived roles and to challenge established structures that might dictate those. Editor: So, in a way, the “one minute” aspect underscores the fleeting nature of these imposed roles? Curator: Yes. And the collaborative nature of its creation invites further discussions regarding co-authorship and shared experience. The 'One Minute Sculpture' serves as an interesting intersection of art as experience and social critique, doesn’t it? Editor: It really does. Seeing it as more than just an awkward photo shifts everything. Thanks for pointing out the undercurrent of societal interrogation and the possibility of interpersonal commentaries Brotherus has created!