Joy #3: Seasons in the Sun

Lombardi—Kargl is pleased to announce the third chapter of the project 17(Joy) and the opening of JOY #3: Seasons in the Sun.

curated by Laura Amann Marín with Aleksei Borisionok, Anne Faucheret, KUNSTVEREIN GARTENHAUS, Aziza Harmel, BLOCKFREI Collective, Ekaterina Degot, Fanny Hauser, Francesca Gavin, Liam Gillick, Miguel López, Mirela Baciak, Phila Bergmann & Thea Reifler, Ramesch Daha, Tjaša Pogačar, and WHW

Seasons in the Sun transforms 17(Joy) into a tender experiment in slowness, rituals of farewell, and curatorial friendship. Seventeen curators and artists have been invited to commission a postcard from an artist with whom they share a reciprocal and formative relationship—emerging through collaboration, dialogue, or shared histories. These postcards are printed, mailed, and distributed from a makeshift post office inside 17(Joy), turning the space into a hub for quiet exchanges and collective memory.
At once a gathering and a celebration of invisible networks, the project reclaims the humble postcard as a vehicle for reflection and connection—an alternative to accelerated forms of communication. Neural, relational, and enduring, Seasons in the Sun offers a love letter and a moment of pause: to mark what has already been shared, and to imagine what kinds of togetherness might continue to grow across time and distance.

Presenting works by Anca Munteanu Rimnic, Chantal Kaufmann, Colm Keady Tabbal, Eliana Otta, Ezra Šimek, Hans-Jörg Mayer, Jakub Jansa, julie béna, Miriam Stoney, Seana Gavin, Sergey Bratkov, Shu Lea Cheang, Vlatka Horvat, Yesmine Ben Khelil, Zina Isupova (through Kriegsbilder), and Željka Aleksić, with a spatial intervention by Abdul Sharif Oluwafemi Baruwa and visual style by Martins Kohout.

17(Joy) is open during public events and by appointment @seventeenjoy

Lombardi—Kargl at Schleifmühlgasse 17 is temporarily reimagined as 17(Joy), a year-long curatorial initiative conceived by Jen Kratochvil.

The idea for 17(Joy) emerged from an ongoing interest in institutional structures, the distribution of power, and what happens when such frameworks are reduced or suspended. It resonates with the current state of many art institutions—marked by defunding, restructuring, and institutional fragility—where artistic production is increasingly shaped by exhaustion, precarity, and the persistent expectation to remain productive. 17(Joy) doesn’t seek to resolve this tension; instead, it explores how various ways of gathering, presenting, or reflecting might emerge within these conditions.

The presence of Joy—carefully contained within parentheses to avoid getting too exited—will be vizualised and echoed through a series of interventions by the artists Martins Kohout throughout the year.

17(Joy) is supported by Lombardi—Kargl, Federal Ministry for Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport (BMWKMS) and ERSTE Stiftung.