Fat Car

'With the first car, I tried to collaborate with the automotive industry. I asked Opel, General Motors in Germany, if they could help me or collaborate. They agreed, so I drove to their big construction hall in Frankfurt, and they allowed me to use the 3D modeling computer on which they design all the new cars. I was there for a week. It was enormously expensive, but the result was not at all satisfying because those computers, I realized, are unable to construct biological or even anthropomorphic or organic forms. They are only able to produce technical forms, and thats the reason why all these cars now look the way they look. Finally, we decided that it wouldn't work out with the computer, so we went back to the old way of making the cars: we made the forms by hand. We see the same problem with architecture because everybody who uses a computer program uses a predefined aesthetic, which very much influences the work. Its the reason why all these buildings look like they do. They actually look the same because of the computer program that was used.'

(E. Wurm, quoted in P. Zuspan, 'Erwin Wurm: Interview', Museo Magazine, 2008, reproduced at: https://www.museomagazine.com/#ERWIN-WURM)