A few weeks ago I saw “We Make Years Out of Hours” a mega-installation by Lithuanian artist Lina Lapelytė, at Hamburger Bahnhof Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart (National Gallery of Contemporary Art) in Berlin. The installation occupies the museum’s 27,000 square foot hall, which was originally a train station. It takes a space this big to accommodate a show of this scale, although the installation was designed specifically for the hall.

For a change, there is a complete lack of signage explaining the “why” and the backstory of the exhibit – which I think is a plus. The absence of written commentary forces people to dive into the installation and experience it on their own.

The elements of the installation are: 1) the hall itself, 2) live vocal and electronic music, 3) 400,000 blocks of wood (each about 5”x5”x5”), and 4) the constructions visitors are continuously building and deconstructing. The installation sets the stage for visitors to interact in any way they choose. Children were especially fired up, and usually built walls and (toppling) towers. Adults were building walls, mini-skyscrapers, and thrones. I felt the call to build something, so I put together a modest patterned border with the blocks at 45 degree angles. Although it’s fun to just observe what’s going on, getting some hands-on involvement is hard to resist.

The music, a wash of chords and textures overlayed by live singing, added extra meaning. Even though the lyrics, consisting of poems selected by the artist, were not understandable, the chant-like music created a “sound-net” thrown over the buzz of the activity in the hall, providing a feeling of unity.

I bought the show’s museum catalog, and there is much mention of the installation as an opportunity for community-building. That sounds great, but I didn’t really see evidence of that. It seemed like most people were building their individual projects, and not really relating to other visitors. Also, there was no apparent representation of Berlin’s predominant and long-standing, migrant population. More than the catalog’s wishful thinking about community building, I would’ve found an anthropologist’s observations about how people tend to create boundaries and borders interesting.

We Make Years Out of Hours continues through January 10, 2027.