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A set of bistro chairs, the remains of a stolen bicycle, or a key safe hidden behind a rain gutter. Like everyday objects that are enclosed or chained, Anna Lerchbaumer’s works temporarily lay claim to urban space. Against the backdrop of the Palais des Beaux Arts as an artistic interface, they interlock with the existing infrastructure.

Something red and round lies in the grass. A buoy, an Easter egg, a leg? Anna wraps the chain that is attached to one of the woodturned sculptures painted in cherry-red around a tree. The chain itself is wrapped in white fabric. A woman and her dog, on a leash, enter the fenced-in square. Anna closes the lock and keeps the key. The next day, one of the sculptures is found in the parking lot. “Shouldn’t it be inside?” reads the text sent by the photographer.

Anna Lerchbaumer’s objects are secured off, yet still exposed and vulnerable to their surroundings. As site-specific, encrypted signs, they examine forms of inclusion and exclusion in the post-digital public sphere. To continue, verify you are human.

Anna hands her sculptures over to public space. She takes the risk that they will not merely be looked at, but touched, moved, and played with. Through her works, she enters into a dialogue with the history of expropriation and artistic reappropriation of the Palais des Beaux Arts Wien. Access failed. Caps Lock enabled? H-E-R-E, at the fenced-off Rudolf-von-Alt-Platz and the barred windows of the building at Löwengasse 47A, access itself becomes the material.

When we dismantled the works, everything was still intact. During the installation, no one showed any interest in them — not even the dog that pissed on one.