JOY #1: spaces of being in common

Lombardi—Kargl is pleased to announce the project 17 (Joy) and the opening of JOY #1: spaces of being in common.

Starting in June, the Lombardi—Kargl space at Schleifmühlgasse 17— formerly known as Georg Kargl PERMANENT—will be temporarily reimagined as 17(Joy), a year-long curatorial initiative conceived by Jen Kratochvil. The project will unfold through five distinct presentations, each curated by an invited curator: Adelina Luft, Stella Rollig, Ekaterina Degot, Ji-Yoon Han, and Sebastian Cichocki. Each presentation will respond independently to the site and its context.

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 excited—will be visualized and echoed through a series of interventions by the artists Martins Kohout throughout the year.

JOY #1: spaces of being in common
 

Curated by Adelina Luft, the first iteration opens on June 5 and brings together five initiatives that operate between rural and urban contexts, across Central and Eastern Europe: Krater (Ljubljana); sessi space (Brno); WCSCD (Gornja Gorevnica); The Experimental Station for Research on Art and Life (Siliștea Snagovului); Kollektiv Kaorle (Vienna).

Rather than presenting individual works, the exhibition focuses on situated practices—gardening, building, crafting, teaching—developed in places where cultural work is often shaped by scarce infrastructure, informal support systems, and a proximity to land. These are not romantic gestures of retreat, but practical responses to political and ecological shifts that demand new ways of living together, sustaining one another, and resisting systemic pressures.

Supported by Lombardi—Kargl, Federal Ministry for Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport (BMWKMS), ERSTE Stiftung, and Romanian Cultural Institute, Vienna.