Doing Nothing — Juan Vértiz Márquez

Doing Nothing

Public Intervantion

Project Information

Project
The Act of Doing Nothing

Location
Vienna, Austria

Year
2022

Type
Public Intervention

Role
Artist

Collaborators
Dila Dermican-Özer · Gala Kuckhoff

Project Supervisor
Elina Kränzlee

Description

The Act of Doing Nothing explores idleness as a social, political, and spatial condition. In a society shaped by productivity and constant activity, the project questions how we value time, attention, and presence, proposing inaction as a deliberate and collective act.

Developed through a series of interventions across Vienna, the work invited participants to reflect on questions such as: What does it mean to do nothing? Who has the right to do nothing? And how can this right be reclaimed for ourselves and for others? By reframing leisure as an active form of engagement rather than the absence of action, the project challenged conventional perceptions of public space and everyday life.

Rather than seeking answers, The Act of Doing Nothing created moments where slowing down, observing, and simply being present became meaningful ways of inhabiting the city.

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