April 2020: The playground is empty and quiet, with a sadly fluttering barrier tape that nobody cares about because everyone is at home in lockdown. Except for a pear-shaped 3D figure which pads searchingly through the gravelly sand on thin legs, in chunky sneakers. It is towing an exhausted balloon with a frozen smile and – chunky sneakers. The dangling balloon hands pat the lonely rule-breaker from above. Franz Impler’s poetic and playfully condensed snapshot lets us empathise with an indescribable, exceptional situation in all its melancholy and absurdity.

André Eckardt