In the installation By any means, Larissa Fassler refers to the notion of flight which is often seen as a metaphor for freedom and inspiration. She has created an “impossible flying machine,” a wooden winged structure that is strapped onto one’s back and is propelled by human power. Suspended as an object in the gallery space, the “flying machine” seems to be ready for use, viewers feel as though they could in fact strap on the wings. A video-taped performance shows the artist flapping the wings until she is exhausted, an absurd, repeated action.

Larissa Fassler’s work looks at ideas related to the futility of human actions such as reaching for unattainable goals and self-destructive, “self-sabotaging” actions:

I am so afraid that I will fail. This is an honest attempt because I know that it will not happen. Perhaps it is safer to work hard at something I will never accomplish than to work towards something I might actually succeed at. I have no real desire to fly, but I am a hard worker and I will do this because I will myself to do so. It is self-destructive and self-sabotaging in its attempt. I resign myself to one thought as I lift the wings, which take no hold of the air: “that Sisyphus must have been happy in his task.” (Larissa Fassler)