I took this photograph with my mobile phone on January 11, 2026, from the veranda of the apartment at Berggasse 19 in Vienna, now the Sigmund Freud Museum. The windows overlook the courtyard. Before going inside, I wrote BETTER THAN WELL in the snow with my finger. This slogan was first used by Peter Kramer in the book Listening to Prozac (1993). The guru of cosmetic pharmacology, in his apology for chemical happiness, argues that people do not simply want to feel well—to have a normal (euthymic) mood—but want to feel more than well (hyperthymic): better than well.
1. Better than well, Vienna, 2026
I took this photograph with my mobile phone on February 15, 2026, from the window of my room on the third floor of a building at Friedrich-Kaiser-Gasse 13 in Vienna. The window overlooks the inner courtyard, divided into small garden plots with private access. I threw Vitaliano Trevisan’s book Tristissimi giardini out of the window to observe its bounce on the trampoline in the garden below. “[…] As for the garden of devastating sadness, now that it is mine everything will change. I will do nothing, except water it and watch. Then, after a while, I will begin selecting the guest plants. In my wild garden, I make preferences.”
2. Moments before the bounce, Vienna, 2026