CHANEL Commission—Lina Lapelytė: We Make Years Out of Hours

Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart presents We Make Years Out of Hours, a new large-scale installation and performance by Lina Lapelytė, marking the second edition of the CHANEL Commission at Hamburger Bahnhof. On view from May 1, 2026 to January 10, 2027, Lapelytė transforms the museum’s historic hall into an evolving landscape shaped through collective acts of building, singing, and listening. At the centre of the space, 400,000 wooden cubes circulate through human hands, forming temporary structures that are continuously reshaped while voices resonate across the hall in songs drawn from fifteen poetic texts. Rather than presenting a fixed monument, the work unfolds as a shared environment in which performers and visitors participate in the slow construction of a collective experience.

Working at the intersection of sound, performance, and social practice, Lina Lapelytė (born 1984 in Kaunas, Lithuania; lives and works between Vilnius and London) has developed an artistic language rooted in collaboration and attentive listening. Her projects frequently draw on everyday gestures and shared actions, transforming them into situations that foreground collective presence. For the CHANEL Commission at Hamburger Bahnhof, she extends this approach into a durational installation that evolves over months. Twelve performers activate the space through repeated gestures of building and dismantling, while their voices carry fragments of poetry through the architecture of the historic hall.

The lyrics are based on poems by fiteen international writers from the early twentieth century to the present, including Etel Adnan, Kaveh Akbar, Maḥmūd Darwīsh, Natalie Diaz, Forugh Farrokhzad, Khalil Gibran, June Jordan, Ilya Kaminsky, Bhanu Kapil, W.S. Merwin, Eileen Myles, Laila Sarahat, Arundhathi Subramaniam, Ocean Vuong, and Asiya Wadud. Short lines about community, formation, love, loss, and hope form the libretto of the work.

Across the exhibition period, structures rise and dissolve in an ongoing cycle of construction and transformation. No single form asserts permanence. Instead, the work unfolds as a living field of relations between bodies, voices, and time. Visitors are invited to observe, to linger, and at moments to participate, contributing to an environment that changes daily. Through repetition, attention, and shared labour, the installation proposes an alternative understanding of monumentality—one grounded not in permanence but in collective action and lived experience.

Situated within the monumental architecture of Hamburger Bahnhof’s historic hall—a former railway station built in 1848—We Make Years Out of Hours resonates with the site’s legacy as a place of movement, gathering, and transition. The vast interior becomes a resonant body in which sound and gesture accumulate gradually, encouraging visitors to slow down and attend to the rhythms of collective activity. In an era marked by acceleration, fragmentation, war, and uncertainty, Lapelytė’s work offers a space for connection, care, and shared presence, foregrounding the possibility of coexistence through small acts of collaboration.

Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart continues its partnership with the CHANEL Culture Fund through the annual CHANEL Commission, an ambitious long-term initiative that enables artists to realize large-scale projects within the museum’s historic hall. Transforming the 2,500-square-meter space into an immersive environment, the commission provides a platform for artists whose practices expand the possibilities of contemporary art and challenge conventional exhibition formats.

Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, co-directors of Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart:

“As Hamburger Bahnhof marks its 30th anniversary, We Make Years Out of Hours embodies our commitment to shaping an institution grounded in community, participation, and inclusion. Lina Lapelytė’s work challenges us to rethink what a museum can be—not simply a site of display, but a space of encounter, shared authorship, and collective imagination.”

Yana Peel, President of Arts, Culture & Heritage at CHANEL:

“Lina Lapelytė’s We Make Years Out of Hours exemplifies a form of artistic thinking that brings people together through shared experience, imagination, and care. By enabling ambitious works that engage audiences across generations and cultures, the CHANEL Culture Fund continues its commitment to fostering creative environments where new ideas can take shape and inspire meaningful dialogue.”

The second edition of the CHANEL Commission coincides with the 30th anniversary of Hamburger Bahnhof, marking a moment of reflection and renewal for the institution.

The exhibition is accompanied by an edition of the Hamburger Bahnhof catalogue series, published by Silvana Editoriale Milano.

About Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart
Hamburger Bahnhof was founded in 1996 as the Contemporary Art Museum of Germany’s National Gallery in Berlin. Through exhibitions, performances, educational programming, publications, and symposia, Hamburger Bahnhof serves as a forum for local and global communities. The museum is home to the Nationalgalerie’s collection of contemporary art from the 1960s onwards, with a particular focus on time-based media. With 12,000 square meters of exhibition space and an ambitious program of temporary exhibitions and evolving permanent displays, Hamburger Bahnhof continues to operate across disciplines, cultures, and geographies, fostering innovation, inclusivity, responsiveness, and diversity.

About the CHANEL Culture Fund
The CHANEL Culture Fund fosters a vibrant network of creators and innovators to advance the ideas shaping culture worldwide. Core programs include CHANEL’s Art Partners—institutions whose leaders are supported in developing long-term initiatives that transform the cultural landscape. The CHANEL Next Prize celebrates artists and accelerates their future success through mentorship and resources, while the CHANEL Connects podcast amplifies the voices of thought leaders across disciplines, generations, and geographies.