Erwin Wurm

Nightmare, 2026
Aluminium, paint

Fotograf: Markus Gradwohl

Erwin Wurm’s Dreamers series unfolds within the tension between consciousness and the unconscious, and between rational control and elusive, irrational states.

“My work is a commentary on our society. I use the perspective of the absurd and the paradoxical to address problems in our world,” Wurm explains.

This ambivalence becomes particularly evident in Nightmare. The pillow, which overlays and partially obscures the human body, points to underlying forces at play. The supposedly controllable—the body—is shaped and transformed by the unconscious, by thoughts and inner states.

The work makes this inner conflict visible: the human body, a symbol of agency and control, is overlaid and partially obscured by the pillow, itself a symbol of sleep, dreams, and the unconscious.

Nightmare can be understood as a reflection on the instability of the self. Beneath the surface of apparent control, irrational and subconscious forces are constantly at work, shaping perception, identity, and experience.