“Irgendwann ging es mir besser schon als heute,” goes the song by legendary German band Tocotronic, “zum Beispiel letztes Jahr im Sommer.” 

Summer is arguably the most beloved of the seasons, associated with holidays, long days and warm nights. But summer is also more than a season. It is a symbolic and emotional space—a momentary escape, a time of transformation, and a metaphor for all things fleeting and ephemeral—freedom, youth, or hope, among others. In that sense Last Summer is an exhibition about transience—the ephemeral beauty, and the fleeting nature of life’s experiences, and includes works by Cristina Canale, Oda Jaune, Valentina Liernur and Travis MacDonald, who reflect on melancholy, and the emotional residues left by the past. Last Summer—both as a physical time of year and as a metaphor for moments that cannot last but are forever imprinted in our memories—is therefore tinged with nostalgia, impermanence, and reflection. It represents endings, but also the passage of time as such—indeed, one of the best things about summer is that it comes every year, and the next one is almost here.

Melancholy afflicts even the most optimistic among us in view of the current world situation. The shift towards painting characterized by a melancholy mood has been observed in contemporary art for some time, perhaps evidence of the often cited seismographic sensitivity that distinguishes artists. Something is off. “The center cannot hold” (William Yeats). In this respect, Last Summer is not intended to be an escapist show that makes us forget the global political situation. It celebrates the aforementioned fine antennae of the artists—and the ‘principle of hope’. Not just the hope for next summer.