Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka, Instability, 2024. Installation at the 2026 Venice Biennale; sewn Kashiki Seishi washi, sumi ink, indigo, kakishibu, gyotaku, artist’s handmade paper, linocut print, konnyaku.  Photo: Marco Pavan Early in his psychoanalytic inquiry, Freud pointed to the possibility that “the whole of humanity has become neurotic under the pressure of cultural urges.” A substantial body of literature addressed this concern, before and since, warning as early as the first Industrial Revolution of the dangers of the utopian drive to relentlessly technologize our lives.

Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka, Instability, 2024. Installation at the 2026 Venice Biennale; sewn Kashiki Seishi washi, sumi ink, indigo, kakishibu, gyotaku, artist’s handmade paper, linocut print, konnyaku.  Photo: Marco Pavan Early in his psychoanalytic inquiry, Freud pointed to the possibility that “the whole of humanity has become neurotic under the pressure of cultural urges.” A substantial body of literature addressed this concern, before and since, warning as early as the first Industrial Revolution of the dangers of the utopian drive to relentlessly technologize our lives.

Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka, Instability, 2024. Installation at the 2026 Venice Biennale; sewn Kashiki Seishi washi, sumi ink, indigo, kakishibu, gyotaku, artist’s handmade paper, linocut print, konnyaku.  Photo: Marco Pavan Early in his psychoanalytic inquiry, Freud pointed to the possibility that “the whole of humanity has become neurotic under the pressure of cultural urges.” A substantial body of literature addressed this concern, before and since, warning as early as the first Industrial Revolution of the dangers of the utopian drive to relentlessly technologize our lives.

Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka, Instability, 2024. Installation at the 2026 Venice Biennale; sewn Kashiki Seishi washi, sumi ink, indigo, kakishibu, gyotaku, artist’s handmade paper, linocut print, konnyaku.  Photo: Marco Pavan Early in his psychoanalytic inquiry, Freud pointed to the possibility that “the whole of humanity has become neurotic under the pressure of cultural urges.” A substantial body of literature addressed this concern, before and since, warning as early as the first Industrial Revolution of the dangers of the utopian drive to relentlessly technologize our lives.

Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka, Instability, 2024. Installation at the 2026 Venice Biennale; sewn Kashiki Seishi washi, sumi ink, indigo, kakishibu, gyotaku, artist’s handmade paper, linocut print, konnyaku.  Photo: Marco Pavan Early in his psychoanalytic inquiry, Freud pointed to the possibility that “the whole of humanity has become neurotic under the pressure of cultural urges.” A substantial body of literature addressed this concern, before and since, warning as early as the first Industrial Revolution of the dangers of the utopian drive to relentlessly technologize our lives.

Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka, Instability, 2024. Installation at the 2026 Venice Biennale; sewn Kashiki Seishi washi, sumi ink, indigo, kakishibu, gyotaku, artist’s handmade paper, linocut print, konnyaku.  Photo: Marco Pavan Early in his psychoanalytic inquiry, Freud pointed to the possibility that “the whole of humanity has become neurotic under the pressure of cultural urges.” A substantial body of literature addressed this concern, before and since, warning as early as the first Industrial Revolution of the dangers of the utopian drive to relentlessly technologize our lives.

Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka, Instability, 2024. Installation at the 2026 Venice Biennale; sewn Kashiki Seishi washi, sumi ink, indigo, kakishibu, gyotaku, artist’s handmade paper, linocut print, konnyaku.  Photo: Marco Pavan Early in his psychoanalytic inquiry, Freud pointed to the possibility that “the whole of humanity has become neurotic under the pressure of cultural urges.” A substantial body of literature addressed this concern, before and since, warning as early as the first Industrial Revolution of the dangers of the utopian drive to relentlessly technologize our lives.

Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka, Instability, 2024. Installation at the 2026 Venice Biennale; sewn Kashiki Seishi washi, sumi ink, indigo, kakishibu, gyotaku, artist’s handmade paper, linocut print, konnyaku.  Photo: Marco Pavan Early in his psychoanalytic inquiry, Freud pointed to the possibility that “the whole of humanity has become neurotic under the pressure of cultural urges.” A substantial body of literature addressed this concern, before and since, warning as early as the first Industrial Revolution of the dangers of the utopian drive to relentlessly technologize our lives.

Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka, Instability, 2024. Installation at the 2026 Venice Biennale; sewn Kashiki Seishi washi, sumi ink, indigo, kakishibu, gyotaku, artist’s handmade paper, linocut print, konnyaku.  Photo: Marco Pavan Early in his psychoanalytic inquiry, Freud pointed to the possibility that “the whole of humanity has become neurotic under the pressure of cultural urges.” A substantial body of literature addressed this concern, before and since, warning as early as the first Industrial Revolution of the dangers of the utopian drive to relentlessly technologize our lives.

Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka, Instability, 2024. Installation at the 2026 Venice Biennale; sewn Kashiki Seishi washi, sumi ink, indigo, kakishibu, gyotaku, artist’s handmade paper, linocut print, konnyaku.  Photo: Marco Pavan Early in his psychoanalytic inquiry, Freud pointed to the possibility that “the whole of humanity has become neurotic under the pressure of cultural urges.” A substantial body of literature addressed this concern, before and since, warning as early as the first Industrial Revolution of the dangers of the utopian drive to relentlessly technologize our lives.

We often falsely believe that the more important we are, the less anxious we feel about our competence and security.