The project "Ephemeral spaces" by the artist Jan Langer consists in art installations that create bodies, spaces, and forms within the architectural context of galleries, abandoned places, halls, or open landscapes, operating at the intersection of perception, materiality, and transience. They intervene in existing structures or emerge from them by redefining lines, volumes, and sightlines. The human body often becomes the measure or even an integral part of the work: it traverses, activates, or completes the space through its presence. The architecture of the spaces, in its very nature, becomes an integral part of the work. Like the works the artist creates in nature, these installations are also ephemeral. Firstly, they are materially ephemeral: Langer uses natural materials he finds in the surrounding landscape and brings them into the spaces of galleries or vacant buildings. Secondly, their visual appearance is also fleeting. They are, in fact, based on precise optical illusions that can only be experienced from a specific perspective. From this fixed perspective, seemingly disparate elements combine to form clear shapes: geometric bodies, floating surfaces, or illusory passageways. However, if one changes the viewpoint, the order instantly falls apart into its individual components. These works challenge viewers to consciously position themselves in space and reflect on their own perception. They make it clear that space is not only physically given, but is created through seeing, movement, and interpretation. In this field of tension between construction and dissolution, presence and disappearance, they unfold their special poetic power: as fragile moments that elude being grasped and gain their intensity precisely in this estrangement. The works "Ephemeral spaces I-IV" appear as fleeting interventions, they seem to emerge for a moment from walls, asphalt, and concrete, lending an organic, living aesthetic to the cold, functional urban landscape. Viewing the images can—or should—also prompt questions: do the works position themselves as intruders in a human-dominated environment, or do they blend in as a natural extension of the site? Are they an addition that reveals the space’s hidden qualities, or do they restore its original balance? It is precisely this ambiguity that gives them their appeal. The installations invite us to view urban space in a new light—not as the antithesis of nature, but as a place where the two could possibly interact and transform one another.
"Ephemeral Spaces II" was created in the forge of Centrale Fies, a former power station in Trento, in the winter of 2026. Pine cones and snow were used as materials. The picture was not digitally altered; the three-dimensional effect was only perceptible from a specific perspective. Dimensions of the square about 6x10 meters.
Picture taken with Sony alpha 7rIII F/5.6 1/25sec ISO250
