Sculptures

2023

Lützerath

“Lützerath,” 2023, 40 abstract paper models of ground structures from Lützerath, at a scale of approximately 1:20, made from photographic prints and glue. Rokas Wille transformed prints of his own photographs of the protest architecture build by activists into three-dimensional models. The sculptures can be viewed from all sides – just as Wille had photographed the huts from multiple perspectives. The work thus lives between photography and sculpture.

In some places, the artist cut out the spaces between the planks of the huts, allowing the unprinted reverse side of the paper to become visible. He also incorporated grasses and branches that appear in his photographs into the models, turning them into elements of the façades. In this way, Wille created an abstraction in which the structures merge with their surroundings.

“Lützerath” was shown in 2023 as part of the exhibition “Protest/Architecture” at the German Architecture Museum (DAM) in Frankfurt, in 2024 at the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna, and in 2025/26 at the Prague City Gallery GHMP in Prague. In addition, the work was part of the 16th Triennial of Small-Scale Sculpture in Fellbach in 2025.

The work was commissioned by the German Architecture Museum (DAM) and expands a series of five models of the same motif previously made by Wille. Another prototype of the work has been part of the DAM’s permanent collection since 2026.

Wille took his photographs shortly before the eviction in January 2023. He subsequently digitally assembled them into folding templates and produced his models from these over the course of the summer. Due to time constraints, during the eviction he focused on the 40 ground structures bulid by activists and excluded the treehouses from his documentation. This draws attention to a particular type of protest architecture: the “treehouse without a tree.” The ground structures, too, can be understood as “delay architectures.” During a police operation, activists can climb onto the roofs, placing themselves at a height that requires the deployment of specialist units. In this way, the eviction can – at least in the hope of the occupiers – be delayed.

Lützerath was a place of collective resistance against the imperative of growth and competition between states, against the rule of market and capital. At the same time, it was a place where a good life and a different, human society were already being put into practice. This spirit is also reflected in the structures that were build there: among the various protest buildings were an information point, the hut that was formerly being used as a Küfa (Küche für Alle / Kitchen for Everyone) in 2022, and an awareness tent.