Joya: AiR / Sandra Eichinger / AUS

“I am walking, taking a stroll, meandering, making meaning, in a state of deep care, connected feeling.

Within the vast landscape of Joya: AiR, everything seems light and everything seems possible. Around us nothing but nature, we all suddenly have so much time, so much space and so little distractions: creativity is inescapable and curious minds are all around. I started world building outside, maybe to escape, maybe to locate: my hands are forming ephemeral landscapes of clay (the skin of the earth). I go on to work inside, in my wonderful cave-like, womb-like studio - some more wor(l)d building. My hands, dry from the clay, the Spanish wind, cut out words, carefully framing them into poetry, text based collages and writing, writing - the words are flowing so easily onto paper and screens. 

In the evening there is time for laughter, time to share secrets, Donna's deliciously cooked meals, the bell announcing them, all of us hungrily waiting around the fireplace, faces red from the warm winter sun and harsh wind, faces green from a face mask. Hands are building again, knitting, a scarf, turqoise like the water missing in this dry area. My Joya scarf. I teach Rachel how to knit, she shows me how to develop photos using rosemary. I write about Maria's work, her radiating from within, Juliette says thank you for writing about art, I think: thank you for creating your playful theatres, they inspire, they care. I am listening to Niki's poems, those beautifully selected words stay with me for a long time, I re-read them again the next day. We are all looking forward to our first dinner with Kathryn, she is sifting clay, the finest skin. Sam and Tommy are the first ones I meet, their aura of calm and friendliness feels like an embrace, their passion for music vibrates. Donna and Simon's warm welcome and stories shared over dinner are special and show how much they care about creating this space. I run my hands through Frida's fur, she is not a dog but a giant. I visit Fufu, cut around a photo of her for a goat collage - skin, earth, kin, I cut my way around a manifesto of care.

Joya: AiR, a place enabling conversations and connections - it means jewel... What a fitting description”.

Sandra Eichinger

“I am a curatorial assistant and spokesperson for sustainability at the contemporary art museum Lentos in Linz, Austria and take on freelance projects in art writing and art historic research. In recent jobs I have been working at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna and as a freelance art historian and art writer at the sculpture symposion Lindabrunn, Austria. I have also been teaching at the University of Vienna, tutoring courses in "Introductions to Academic writing" and "Art Reception in the museal context". In 2022 I received a scholarship for the Summeracademy Salzburg, participating in the course "The Art of Writing about Art". I am currently finishing my MA degree in Art history at the University of Vienna and did my BA degree in textile art and design at the Kunstuniversität Linz with an exchange semester in Fashion Design at NABA Milano, Italy and took part in a summer course at the London College of Fashion, thus having a strong connection to textiles, fiber aesthetics and the field where arts and crafts interlace. Additionally, creative writing is a strong part of my daily life and I am creating poem based collages”.