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!

Tallinn, ESTONIA: The Hidden Treasure.

Wow! Visiting eight countries in eleven days can blur the ethos of the cities, but there is one city that will stand out as my favourite from this tour: Tallinn. Tallinn has an old-world look with cutting-edge freshness and the art and culture scene is taking off! It's obviously Europe's hidden treasure; I'm just happy to uncover it for myself...

Situated in the northeast corner of the Baltic Sea, Estonia is just a couple hours by ferry from Helsinki. We took the bright and early, ride-in-style, across the Gulf of Finland... arrived at 9:00 and hit the town right away! This is the first shoppe I saw... seems awfully convenient...



On the ferry ride over, I scanned the net for contemporary art spots in Tallinn (as I do for every city I visit)... I've found that digging up the arts scene and meeting the locals are the best ways for me to get the most out of a city. For the rest of the trip, I made it a point to head out on my own each day to hit these marks. Kent and Emily make great travel partners; especially because they understand my wandering spirit and know there is no way to repress it... so, they take off doing their thing and leave me to do mine. They dig the historical peripheral and I want to learn from the random meetings of interesting people in interesting places. Anyhow, it's great how we can appreciate each other's interests / learning styles and it makes for pretty interesting exchanges each night when we meet up for supper.

So, in my quest to seek contemporary art in Tallinn, I stumbled upon the Sally Stuudio: a non-profit organization with a mission in perfect parallel to my perspective on art education! Their purpose: "to educate young people to become future competent creators and consumers of art and to promote a better understanding of art amongst adults." It's utopian, but it's simple. I asked around and finally found someone to lead me to this little schoolhouse studio off the main drag in old-town.

I walked in and introduced myself, expressing my appreciation for their vision. It's so important to help young people understand the presence of contemporary art in our modern world and to open doors for them to see the possibilities to express themselves in it! And, the people at the Sally Art School get it. It's great. They showed me around and gave me some information on some really rad programmes they're organizing in conjunction with Tallinn 2011: The European Capital of Culture! The newest initiative is called Eksperimenta!: "application of art to education of young people and to their development into creative, critically thinking and responsible persons and citizens." This is a page from a book that one of the kids made. I think it's brilliant.

In my one day in Tallinn, I discovered several creative outlets for young artists... totally refreshing! This is an after-school school for pottery and sculpture. I just love that people understand the importance of art education in Tallinn, and furthermore the importance of encouraging creative minds to grow... So, it makes sense... European Culture Capital 2010 is Pécs (Hungary), 2011 is Tallinn (Estonia).

So, Estonia... Eastern Europe? No way. Estonia, the most northern of the Baltic States, may geographically sit in the eastern region of the continent... but it's a world apart socially. Far beyond obvious differences that suggest cultural maturity (like the fact that everyone speaks English), I learned that Estonia is a European leader in Information Technology... people pay for tram tickets and parking validation with text messages, the city is covered with free WiFi, and is the birthplace of Skype!









It didn't matter that I was waking up at 4:40 the next morning to catch a flight to Riga... I had to go out and check out Tallinn's evening style... Kent and Emily headed back to the hotel and I found a joint on the edge of the old town called the Music Bar to hang for a while. I had a drink, talked with some Tuesday-night locals, kicked it in the big red velvet chairs, and watched a Moby video (from Glastonbury)... pretty chill way to close a good day in great city... See you soon Tallinn...

Helsinki, FINLAND: Scandinavian Introduction.

Waking up in Budapest at 3:31... I wonder why I ever went to sleep... or did I? We hopped in the cab, arrived at the airport, checked-in for the flight, boarded the plane, and hit the friendly skies all before sunrise... next stop is Finland: home of Teppo Numminen and the Lingonberries (sounds like a band name, eh?).

As we stepped off the plane in Turku, we were greeted by cool air with a crisp breeze, gloomy skies with a clean landscape. In fact everything in Turku was clean and well-kept. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to explore the city, as we had to hop on the train for Helsinki within the hour... so we just made a quick walk through the city centre on our way to the train station and we pushed on to Helsinki. The train was immaculate (cleanest train ever, even in second class where we sat). And, when the snack cart came through, I couldn't hold back... there was a retro-designed candy box calling my name. I learned that it a Finnish specialty called Salmiak: a strange variety of spicy salty licorice root... totally strange, but I'm a sucker for candy, especially that of exotic international distinction...

Anyway, Helsinki... We arrived in the late morning and had only the day to explore, but we got around quite a bit. Unfortunately I couldn't visit the Kiasma (Contemporary Art Museum), because it was Monday... but I found Helsinki pretty freaking cool anyway...




I went with Kent and Emily to check out Suomenlinna: a maritime fortress located off the coast. We took a ferry to the island and had a hike around the rocky grounds, checking out what it had to offer. After all, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so it had to be worth checking out. I think there would be a bit more to enjoy in the summer months, as many of the artist studios were closed and locals were hiding out during our cold and windy afternoon visit.

Back to the mainland... plenty of walking (with our packs all day). I dig it though; when I have my backpack on and I'm cruising around from place to place freely, I feel like a bonafide traveler; it's a part of me. This is the beautiful Lutheran Cathedral in the center square.



In addition to the sites of the city, I wanted to check out the famous Helsinki Design District... Of course, being that it was Monday, I missed out on a bunch of the galleries and regular exhibits, but I was able to check out a bit of the scene anyway. Helsinki was chosen to be the World Design Capital for 2012.


Eventually we met up with Mari, a new friend we made on CouchSurfing, and had the best supper of the tour! We went to an authentic Finnish joint called Juttutupa. I had the most incredible Scandinavian meatballs (in brandy sauce with potatoes and beet roots)... totally worth the entire trip to Finland! Mari was a great host. Not only did she find the hottest spot in town to dine; she put us up for the night and helped us navigate the local transport, etc. so we could find our way into town, around town, and back out again...

Finland was cool. I'll go back, maybe when I make my way into Russia... but for now, on to Estonia...

Transylvania, ROMANIA: Vampire Weekend.

Wow. Never did I think I'd be spending Halloween at Dracula's Bran Castle on Halloween... but as life unfolds it's capricious plans for me, this is precisely how I celebrated Halloween 2010. Kent, Emily, and I headed out on a weekend roadtrip to kick off a ten-day trick of Eastern and Central Europe. Our destination was Brasov, but we took the long and winding road from Debrecen (Hungary) through Transylvania... partly to experience the true eastern (European) culture of Romania, but mostly because our Google Maps route took us on the fourteen-hour scenic route...

Regardless, I developed great anticipation of Brasov... not really knowing what to expect, I was stoked for the Halloween enigma... There is no doubt about it, the road to Brasov was a quintessential picture of Eastern Europe: donkey drawn buggies, shoddy roads, a myriad of hitchhikers, wild dogs, roadside chickens, and open-field fires... it was amazing! In order to understand the people, the culture, the politics, the commerce, the art, etc... I had to visit the countryside. We stopped in a town called Zalău for lunch... wow, talk about an what an eye-opener... (I'll have to expand on this later)

And, when we arrived in Brasov, I realized it was worth the journey. This central Romanian city is beautiful... from the landscape to the architecture to the people! The main square was quite a site... the Black Church was cool too...






Civilization seemed a bit more familiar in Brasov; we even came across some kids dressed in Halloween costumes...









In the evening we walked up to the base of Tampa Hill to have a look over the city... here are our ghosts creeping across the fields at dusk. Of course, I couldn't be satisfied with the spot I had, and needed to hike the hill... Emily and Kent went back into the town and I headed up Tampa Hill just as the sun disappeared... I suppose it was just me being me, but I had to exhaust myself running uphill for a while before I would feel accomplished. The view was blocked by trees all the way up, but I finally found a tree to sit in for a while and admire the stars and waning luna. It was worth it; it always is.

We stayed at a killer Bed & Breakfast joint called Pensiunea Hanna... and had the sweetest hosts ever.
















We spent most of the next morning in the outskirts of Brasov, at Bran Castle. I learned a bit about Vlad Dracul (Vlad the Impaler), also known as Drăculea... about the legend, his resistance against the Ottoman Empire, and about his cruel and unusual punishments he served his enemies... it's actually quite disturbing, and it was a bit eerie roaming his 'haunt.'









On the way back into the city, we stopped off the main road to explore some woods... hiking in Brasov Poiana was a pretty good high, but I found myself thinking of Luna the whole time... Autumn hikes just aren't as cool without my pup by my side... no matter where I am.

I am a vampire... the only garlic-loving vampire in Transylvania.





Of all the street musicians we saw this week, there was one particularly notable group: Trubadurii din Transilvania... authentic Brasov troubadours...

EC Cunningham: Incessant Inspiration.

This afternoon I learned some terribly heavy news, something that hit my heart with shock and sadness... a great hero to myself and many, EC Cunningham, passed away one month ago today. I honestly don't know how to react; it came so unexpectedly amidst the many distractions and developments of concurrent life in Hungary. I know that I fall out-of-the-loop with the day-to-day in Denver, but just hearing this affective story now makes me feel so disconnected.

EC was an incredible inspiration, and will always live in spirit, continuing to inspire me for the rest of my life. He was a beloved friend, a wonderful father, a loving husband, a devoted teacher, an exceptional artist, and one of the greatest mentors I have ever learned from. EC changed people's lives. He has helped me become a better artist, a better teacher, and better person.

My friendship with EC was special and will always enrich my life. He invited me to Vicious Dog (his printmaking studio at Metropolitan State College of Denver) many weekends... we would work on new print processes together, just him and I... and he would show me ways I could bring contemporary printmaking into Studio 23 (my studio at Wheat Ridge High School). He did it all out of the kindness of his heart... for his love of art... and for his love of teaching.

I met EC five years ago, when I had the honour of teaching art to his son Kevin, one of my all-time favourite students. Kevin is an incredible man himself... now in his third year at Kansas State, studying landscape design; he will always benefit from the strong relationship he had with his father and years of positive influence he gained. I send my warmest and fullest love to Kevin and his mother Allison in these toughest days... I know they are strong and will carry on to appreciate the impact EC had on them as they heal from today forward.

Life can be so fragile and I'm rarely reminded of this. It will take some time, but I know the sadness of loss will turn into a celebration of his spirit... I am so thankful to have known him, worked with him, and learn so much from him. We'll always love and miss you EC; thank you for your genuine heart.