Lithuanian artist Lina Lapelytė has filled Berlin's Hamburger Bahnhof with 400,000 wooden blocks made of pine and spruce, creating a participatory installation titled “We Make Years Out of Hours.” Commissioned by Chanel, the work invites the public to build and rebuild structures from the 10-centimeter cubes. A series of weekly performances featuring a libretto by writers including Ocean Vuong, Etel Adnan, Forugh Farrokhzad, and Mahmoud Darwish will accompany the installation, which opens on May 1 and runs through January 10, 2027.
The installation matters because it continues Lapelytė's exploration of collective making, shared authorship, and caretaking, offering a hands-on space for communal creativity and reflection. By combining sculpture, performance, and text, the work engages audiences in themes of community, love, and loss, while also highlighting the role of public participation in reshaping existing structures—both physical and conceptual.