International Arts Connect: ATC Workshop.

I just completed my first workshop as part of the Fine Arts Faculty of Kapsovár University. I offered International Arts Connect as an opportunity to experiment and expand creativity beyond borders... literally. I wanted to create an exchange program for university art students to communicate internationally, sharing their ideas with artists on the other side of the world... gaining perspective, stimulating interests, and building artistic relationships!

The room was filled with enthusiastic artists, ephemera, and a collage of music. The fundamental goal of my alternative arts curriculum is mentoring students to communicate ordinary concepts in extraordinary ways... to experiment with problems until fresh solutions emerge. For the intensive two-day workshop, the studio classroom transformed into a laboratory for exploring ideas.












Each artist created an original collection of Artist Trading Cards (ATCs)... trying new processes and new media to craft nine small unique works of art within assigned themes. Simultaneously, I have been working with university art students in the United States to create similar works with the same prompts. Now, I am busy collecting the art from all of the participants (both in the US and from the students at Kaposvár University), and I will facilitate an exchange between the artists. At the end of the project, each student will receive a new set of cards created by international artists!

*I have also created a supplemental programme at the high school level... students from my Alternative Art Klub (here in Kaposvár, at Munkácsy Mihály Gimnázium) made sets of ATCs to exchange with my students in Studio 23 (back in Colorado, at Wheat Ridge High School). In all, there will be over seventy artists involved in the international art exchanges! [Pictured is an exhibition of the 200 ATCs created by the Alternative Art Klub at Munkácsy]

Újhold: New Moon Thanksgiving.

I was skating home from school yesterday, and in the middle of the Penny Market parking lot, I was stopped by a beautiful Hungarian Vizsla wandering the lot, all by herself... with no owner and no clue. I was concerned that the poor pup would be hit by a car, and furthermore, I wondered where she lived? I hopped off my board and got down on a knee... I kind of thought she'd just scamper away or bark at me (like most of the dogs in Hungary), but I tried to pet her anyway... this dog was different; she came right over to me and offered me her affection. I'm a sucker for dogs, especially Vizslas, and this one immediately had me hooked...

I stayed at Penny for twenty-something minutes, trying to find an owner, but nobody came looking and her collar had no information. I couldn't leave her there. She was clean and seemed healthy, but had no place to go. Unfortunately, I can't have a dog in my flat, but I needed to help her. We instantly bonded; she followed me everywhere I went... I named her Újhold (new moon), and call her Új for short.

I brought her back to the block of flats I am living, and let her run in the yard while I ran upstairs to find some food and a make-shift leash. All I could find was some Pick Salami (famous Hungarian salami from Szeged). When I went back outside she was so happy to see that I had food... the leash wasn't important as long as I could coax her with salami. I had to find her home or at least, a temporary place to stay... I convinced my friends Greg and Danielle (from Minnesota) to let Új stay with them for the night, but only for one night.

I woke up today with one goal in mind: finding a home for this dog, at least a temporary one... there was no way I was going to send her back to the streets. I went by their flat this morning and checked on Új. She was just as sweet as I remembered her and I received a good report from her stay with my friends. I went to school and started talking with all of my students... explaining my dilemma and looking for help. After school, one of my students Csanad (and his father Ádam) drove Új and I to the local vet. We thought that she may have a microchip, but unfortunately 'nincs.' We called the radio station to announce the lost dog. And, the radio station put us in contact with a shelter who heard from the owner... we found Új's home!

It was such a great feeling, but at the same time, I really enjoyed bonding with this wonderful little Vizsla. When we returned the dog to her owner, we learned that her proper given name is Lana... yes, Lana, as in one letter off of Luna! The owner was very grateful and incredibly relieved to have her Vizsla back. I already miss her, but am just happy she's cared for again.

But as sweet as 'New Moon' is, the truth is: there's no moon like my moon. Today, on Thanksgiving I realize how thankful I am to have the best dog alive, and how grateful I am to have Bryan and Sarah looking after her while I live in Europe for the year. I'm thankful for much more too, but of course, I can't get Luna out of my mind today.

As for dinner tonight... it was nice, humble and improvised... certainly not the Thanksgiving I am used to... with twenty-plus amazing friends (The Denver Family) in a big log cabin in Breckenridge, snowboarding all day followed by a warm-up in the hot tub under the falling snow, eating and drinking without limits, and wrestling in the snow with Luna... ah, fond memories... (this is the first time in six years I wasn't in Breck for Thanksgiving)...

Malmö, SWEDEN: Supporting My Swede Tooth.

Although I never made it to a hockey game, I did eat 600 grams of Swedish Fish.

In the shadows of Copenhagen sits a beautiful Swedish compliment... just over the Øresund Bridge, Malmö is a hip city of it's own!

Money is getting thin (even my credit card is questioning me) and Scandinavia is not the place to be when cash is a concern. I've spent more cheddar in the last two days than I have on the rest of the trip (eight days) combined! Fortunately, the travel is really cheap around Europe right now... I really can't afford NOT to be seeing as much as I can. For example, my flight home to Budapest tomorrow (from Malmö, Sweden) is $31 USD including all taxes and fees!

So, adventure meets Sweden... Lucky for us, Kent has a friend studying at Malmö University and she took the day off to show us around. Yuliya is awesome; she wanted to show us every possible sight in the city and we weren't going to stop her. From the train station, we took off by foot for a day in (and around) Malmö. First we got the tour and some history of the city centre and then ventured out to Västerbron.

On the way, we walked through Kings Park, a beautiful cemetary with English landscape design and big beautiful autumn colours... then, along the water to the wide-open Baltic Sea. On our way back we walked right up to the base of the Turning Torso (the tallest building in all of Scandinavia, and the tallest residential space in the European Union). It is a remarkable building and is surrounded by a mote, like most remarkable buildings...

I had really hoped to catch a Malmö Redhawks game. I'm not going to be able to catch too much live hockey this year, (and what I see in Hungary will be second-rate, at best)... so I was hoping to watch a game while in Scandinavia. Unfortunately, all of the home teams (Helsinki, Copenhagen, and Malmö) are away this week. Oh well, I soon stumbled on an opportune surprise...

As the sun was setting, we rolled back into downtown. I was floating around the big centre square looking at people and posters and patterns in the pavement... and something caught my eye! Among the dozens of brightly coloured posters and ads on the bulletin board was a simple black poster that said Ratatat. I looked closer and realized that, of all nights, of all places... they were playing here in Malmö tonight! And, even crazier yet, I found out that this date was added as a special intimate venue gig to open their world tour... and the show was free to the first three-hundred people.

I left Kent and Yuliya and went looking for the venue to get the scoop... I soon found this little club called the Debaser about a kilometre from the city centre. Of course, it was locked, and there was no information on tickets, set times, etc. But, I went around back and there was one dude outside having a smoke... I started chatting with him and we heard Ratatat take the stage for soundcheck. Kim and I stood out back and bullshitted about art and music and life. He is a super interesting guy... he's from Norway, but lived in NYC for a few years and is now getting his doctorate in some rare choreography program in Stockholm. Well, after talking with him for about ten minutes, I finally discover that he's the opening act for Ratatat.









Fast forward a few hours later... I was with some new friends (Sabina from Copenhagen, Charlese from Paris, and Cody from Calgary, Nathan from Vancouver) in the swanky Debaser getting ready for a free Ratatat show! (The only bummer was that by the time Kent, Emily, and Yuliya arrived, the line was around the block and they weren't letting anyone else in. As I understand it though, they had fun at a university party on their own...)

Kim Hiorthoy rocked the opening DJ slot... dancing, jumping around, laying down the beats, and getting the party started. By the time Ratatat took the stage, the place was amped and luckily they came to play! Honestly, they were one of the most high-energy live acts I've ever seen. The set was clearly orchestrated and precisely mapped out, but they killed it!

Oh, and that wasn't an exaggeration about the candy... I'm a sucker for Swedish fish, so I bellied up to the bulk bin and filled my sack with 600 grams of gummy goodness... and ate every last one!

Copenhagen, DENMARK: City of Cyclists.

Taking another huge jump from the Baltics back to Scandinavia, Denmark opened up a world of colour! I really dig Copenhagen...












From the time I touched base in Denmark (even in the airport), I realized it's a high-class place with plenty of opportunities... an eco-friendly city with friendly faces and perfect English... kind of reminds me of Denver (but twice the size and twice the price)...

Once we got checked into the hostel, and ready to hit the road, I overheard some people talking about the first-ever exhibition of The Brazil Series by Bob Dylan... here in Copenhagen, right now at Denmark's National Gallery: Statens Museum for Kunst. Upon further investigation, I found out that they also are running a special Picasso exhibit called Tales From the Labyrinth... I had to go... and so I did. I got there on the late side, and they weren't going to let me in... but I met the sweetest lady at the reception, and after a short chat with her, she let me view the exhibits and even gave me a comp ticket, waiving the 95 Kroner admission (about twenty bucks). I was so thankful, because the exhibition was sick. The Dylan stuff was surprisingly pretty damn cool... I had no idea he was such a prolific painter (on top of being one of the greatest songsters of our time). But, it was the Picasso exhibition that wowed me... this time, it was a collection of 100 intaglio prints of his from 1930-37... truly genius.

After the Danish Gallery, I headed back into the Kongens Nytorv area... it was bustling with bikes and people and bikes and bikes. It's a beautiful sight: from the well-to-do business folk to the tree-hugging hipsters, everyone rides bikes! Apparently, an impressive 37 percent of workers commute to their jobs by bike EVERYDAY in Copenhagen... and thus it is considered by many to be the number one bike city in the world! It consistently ranks among the top of all polls with Amsterdam, Boulder, Portland, Berlin, and Basil. The bicycle infrastructure is extensive and well-traveled, with it's own signal systems and traffic lanes. Oh, and for visitors and people waiting out repairs... Copenhagen boasts the most successful community bicycle program in the world as well... it is easy to rent (borrow, really, with a refundable deposit of 20 Kroner) a bike for free!

I ambled through town and soon wound up at this little joint called Cafe Paludan for an art opening called Black Pop. The space was beautiful and the work was impressive. I felt a bit out-of-place though, with the fancy folk chumming it up in centre city. I needed to venture a bit off the main drag to see what else Copenhagen could reveal.

I met up with Emily and Kent for some Thai food (yes, Thai, and it was delicious!) over on Nyhavn Street, the famous canal street lined with brightly coloured cafés, bars, and restaurants... beautiful.

There is one city neighborhood that is completely car-free... the notorious commune Christiania. Now, this is a special place. Kent and I went to check it out our first night in Copenhagen, and that's definitely the time to visit to catch it in full effect! The legend of Christiania, known for it's art and human diversity, is remarkable... it was founded in 1971 by a group of hippies who took over an abandoned military barracks and developed their own set of rules, completely independent of the Danish government... and somehow the people are able to keep it, as is, still today. Supposedly, this little freetown in the heart of Copenhagen is not considered part of the European Union. Unfortunately, they don't allow photos, so I wasn't able to document what I saw, but it was a trip...

Vilnius, LITHUANIA: The Fluxus Capital.

As I head out on my solo mission today, I am at ease... Three months into a yearlong Hungarian residency, and seven days into an eleven-day tour through Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, I feel like I am where I need to be.

I have no expectations for Vilnius... Going in, all I really know about Lithuania is that the Grateful Dead sponsored their Olympic basketball team in the early nineties... seems like pretty shallow knowledge of a country, but I'm ready to learn now... I never got into history classes (unfortunately I never had Mrs. Rossi when I was in high school); I could barely stay focused in art history class which actually interested me. However, now I'm discovering that I love learning history and it's influence on culture... but only by traveling and building personal relationships with the people and the places!

Naturally, my first stop was the CAC [Contemporary Art Centre]: the largest venue for contemporary art in the Baltic States (2400 sq. metres). It was grand, though it didn't boast near the quality of the Riga Art Centre. However, there were two spots totally worth my time... the Fluxus Cabinet and the Reading Room.

I remember this concept of fluxus art, but only vaguely. Well, by the end of my time in the museum, I'm totally schooled on the international movement (it's presence, it's practices, it's history, it's impact) and yet I'm more confused than ever. Talk about a long strange trip into another dimension... wow!

So, Lithuanian-born George Maciunas is said to be the fundamental founder of the movement (and is also referred to as the pioneer of NYC's SoHo district), thus the prominence of flux art in the city. Primarily influenced by John Cage's experimental music composition classes and other avant-garde artists from the sixties, I get the weirdness. It's about making sense out of nonsense. Make sense? Anyway, I went to the Reading Room (similar to the Open Shelf Library at Denver's MCA) to dig deeper... and found myself magnetized to this book: Fluxus Codex. Finally, I put it down and headed back out into the real world. Before I left, I met this girl in the museum lobby who told me about a really special arts initiative in town that I had to check out... and so, of course, I did.

She gave me directions to this huge building in the city centre, once the Ministry of Health... now the Ministry of Fluxus. I wandered in, by myself, not really knowing what exactly happens there... and just started looking around. There wasn't anyone really around, but I was totally intrigued by what I saw... floors upon floors of open art spaces, studios, foosball, and even a little axillary skatepark room with a halfpipe... wow. I just kept going up the stairs, poking around all of these studios, etc. until I made my way to the fifth floor where I finally found someone to talk to.

I met this cool girl named Eglė, a local artist and member of the Fluxus Ministerija project... She turned out to be the perfect person to meet! She was working on her wall piece (this psychedelic op-art installation), but was psyched to take a break and show me around. She gave me the grand tour of the place, stopping in to meet some resident artists and get the history of the joint.

Basically (as I understand it)... Eglė and 26 other local artists contacted a grip of people in the community to help support an arts cooperative in Vilnius. They heard back from only guy... this rich politician in the city with access to the Ministry of Health, an old unused building with plenty of creative possibility. They pitched him a grand plan and he went for it... thus the project was born. It is a ridiculous space. Eglė took me down to the cellar and showed me the secret tunnels and underground passageways... definitely things I didn't expect to see in Vilnius on my one day in town... but just fortunate to meet such kind people.

She also invited me to a private party at the coop tonight with the grand opening of the bar and music hall on the main floor. There was no way I'd miss it. I saw three Lithuanian acts, all members of the Fluxus Ministry... Saulė (an original hiphop duo, hilarious and smooth... like a young local 3Oh!3), Tofu Eueele (neo-pop soul with horns, nice), and a groove DJ (kinda like a Lithuanian St. Germain)...

Riga, LATVIA: Art Nouveau Niche.

It's amazing to travel one hour by plane and feel like I'm in a different world. Perhaps it was the steady afternoon rain, perhaps it was the lack of English spoken, perhaps it's the fact it came on the heels of the Tallinn visit... but Riga didn't have the same charm we felt in Estonia...

Latvia, though no further east than Estonia, puts me back in the Eastern Europe state of mind. When we got off the bus in the city centre, we were funneled into a huge open air flea market, similar to those of Hungary and Romania. It's the real world... there's no faking it. This is the way people live; I appreciate that I have the opportunity to see, smell, hear, taste, and feel the personality of the world through travel and the quest to explore cultural sociology. Differences are cool.

There is no doubt about it though... Riga is up there with the most architecturally stunning places I've ever visited (up there with Paris and Berlin)! When the Art Nouveau movement reached it's peak in the early 20th Century in Europe, Riga was leading the way with flowing lines and geometrical ornaments. I wasn't able to take such great shots of the buildings as dusk settled in and the rain was soaking me (and my camera)... so these few photos are just googled images of the buildings I saw...







Beyond the architecture, there were a few notable art galleries I went to, surprising me with their modern flavours... The Riga Art Space was the best of them.



Rīgas Mākslas Telpa (Riga Art Space) is the coolest contemporary art venue I've seen in a long time! I spent a couple of hours in this underground multifunctional art hall (beneath the Riga City Council building)... just exploring... discovering artists and cutting edge style from across the Baltics... and stayed out of the rain too. Riga Art Space turned me on to some pretty incredible artists like Klāra Grundšteine (hilarious video animation: Bezfilma) and Elīna Zunde (gorgeous composition layers and figural juxtaposition: Tenderness). I was totally inspired and shocked to see such a leading contemporary art space in such an old world-feeling society.

All in all, Riga is fine. I like it, but I'm not sure I love it. Definitely worth the trip though... just for the architecture and Riga Art Space!