Rooted in her research on early childhood creativity, Katharina Lackner’s (Austria, 1981) work explores the open and (un)conscious act of making, as well as the impermanence of things and the shifting notions of value and accumulation. By placing the invisible, the ephemeral, and the fading at the center of the work, she focuses on the process rather than the product – on transformation rather than completion. The installation unfolds between the micro-scale of the individual and the macro-scale of the universe, embedding the layered connections between self and cosmos.

Visitors are invited to play, contribute, and transform the space, leaving traces that will later be reintegrated into the work. Rooted in research on childhood creativity, the project emphasises process, impermanence, and the unseen.

Across her projects, Lackner suggests that by embracing open-ended play and collective creativity, we might unlearn the patterns instilled by adult life in capitalist society: the drive to be optimally productive within fixed frameworks and toward predefined goals. We have been taught to equate value with output, efficiency, and quantity – and, in doing so, have forgotten how to create without purpose, how to collaborate for the sheer joy of making and imagining together.

The artist encourages a rediscovery of creativity driven by imagination, and shared experience.

‘Institution(ing)s’ is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or Creative Europe. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.