Lukas Zerbst

Lives and works in Hannover, Germany

Artist statement

My practice began with my own body as the only available material. From these early performances I developed site-specific interventions: manipulations of interiors and instructions of movement that invite visitors to become co-performers. The stage became architecture itself. I understand space as political by design. It pretends to be static, yet it is always performative and inscribed with history. My works respond to this complexity by using what is already present—architecture, interiors, utilitarian objects—and inserting subtle provocations. They often disguise themselves as infrastructure, as a repair, or as a malfunction, unsettling the terms of daily use. Coming from dance theatre, I search for ephemeral encounters and improvisational intensity in the visual arts. Some works involve high technological complexity, not for its own sake but because the idea demands it. I insist on working hands-on, navigating technology with the same pragmatism my grandfather taught me: “A human built it, so a human can repair it.” This ethos of repair and adaptation runs through my practice. Growing up in a Polish working-class family that migrated to Germany shaped my mistrust of borders and bureaucratic power. My works negotiate questions of assimilation, ownership, and value while resisting the hierarchies embedded in institutions. Someone once described my work as “therapy with the institution”—a phrase that captures how I use interventions to expose and recalibrate relations of...

Artwork