ArtGuide 2015 Close Stranger: Gdańsk — Кaliningrad — Klaipėda Lithuania-Poland-Russia ENPI Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2007-2013 is co-financed with funds from the European Union ArtGuide 2015 CLOSE STRANGER: GDAŃSK — KALININGRAD — KLAIPĖDA This publication has been produced in the framework of international project «Close Stranger: promoting mutual understanding between population of Gdańsk, Kaliningrad and Klaipėda through facilitation of exchange in the field of contemporary arts and culture» ORGANIZERS Baltic Branch of the National Centre for Contemporary Arts // Kaliningrad, Russia // www.ncca.ru/kaliningrad The Łaźnia Centre for Contemporary Arts // Gdańsk, Poland // www.laznia.pl Klaipėda Culture Communication Centre // Klaipėda, Lithuania // www.kkkc.lt CURATORS Russia Elena Tsvetaeva, editor Ilya Dementev Poland Agnieszka Wołodźko, сoordinator Aleksandra Kminikowska Lithuania Ignas Kazakevičius, coordinator Skaistė Kazarauskaitė-Marčienė This publication has been produced with the financial support of the "Lithuania-Poland-Russia ENPI Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2007-2013". Russian part of the project was realized with the support of Ministry of Culture of Russian Federation, "New Art: Foundation // Moscow, Russia and KROO "Art Mission" // Kaliningrad, Russia PUBLISHING TEAM Concept: Ilya Dementev, Elena Tsvetaeva Image Processing: Evgeny Umansky Graphic design: Irina Shmidt, Alexander Suvorov-Franz Studio of graphical design DEZA, St. Petersburg, www.dezzza.ru Print: LTD "VIA Kaliningrad" Special thanks for help and assistance with realization of English version of the ArtGuide to: Yulia Bardun, Olga Danilova, Irina Dewar, Stephen Dewar, Andrey Efits, Robin Gill, Aleksandra Musielak, Yulia Petrovich, Irina Pokrant, Marek Zygmunt, translators of the Lithuanian part Aleksandra Fomina and UAB "FOKAJA" © Baltic Branch of the National Centre for Contemporary Arts, 2015 © Łaźnia Centre for Contemporary Arts, 2015 © Klaipėda Culture Communication Centre, 2015 © Group of authors: texts, photos, translations, 2015 ISBN 978-5-94620-100-1 Elena Tsvetaeva Kaliningrad, Russia Artist, curator, director of the Baltic Branch of the National Centre for Contemporary Arts Towards Each Other: Art-Expedition "Close Stranger: Gdańsk — Kaliningrad — Klaipėda" Translated In 2005, the Kaliningrad Branch of the National Centre for Contemporary Arts by Olga Danilova (NCCA) and a regional NGO — Cultural Initiatives Support Agency "Transit" published the first artistic guidebook about Kaliningrad called the "Art-Guide. Koenigsberg/Kaliningrad Now". It was written by 86 authors from 12 countries around the world, who had visited the city at different times and participated in various art projects of the NCCA (http://art-guide.ncca-kaliningrad.ru/). In 2013, being guided by the book which had become a bibliographic rarity, and having extended its geographical coverage, contemporary artists and arts professionals from Lithuania, Poland and Russia went on an art expedition along the South-Eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. It lasted from June 29 through to July 11, and included visits to historical and cultural sites important for the regional identity. The trip was mainly aimed at searching for and discussing specific territorial markers, scanning cultural and social landscapes, collecting images, accumulating basic materials and generating ideas for the next stage of the project — the joint development of a unique artistic guidebook about the three cities "Close Stranger: Gdańsk — Kaliningrad — Klaipėda" and five tourist routes. Participants of the project from three different countries visited 11 institutions and sites in Poland (in Gdańsk, Gdynia, Tczew, Malbork, Elbląg and Frombork), 16 institutions and sites in the Kaliningrad region (in Kaliningrad, Yantarny, Marino, Gvardeisk, Znamensk, Druzhba, Pravdinsk, Domnovo, Bagrationovsk 4 Close Stranger: 5 Gdańsk — Kaliningrad — Klaipėda and on the Curonian Spit) and 17 institutions and sites in Lithuania (in Klaipė- da, Nida, Juodkrantė and Palanga). Those were museums, contemporary art centres, galleries, historical sites, barracks, Teutonic knights’ castles, cathedrals, Russian Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran churches, unique natural landscapes, submarines, historic burial sites, cemeteries, war memorials, ports and ship- yards, natural anomalies and bird colonies, studios of artists, photographers and designers, homes and displays of private collectors, independent art spa- ces, former military bases, architectural ensembles, book and antique shops, slow-food counters, bars and cafes. 6 As a result of the trip, artists, curators, writers, journalists, social researchers and art critics prepared a unique art-guide "Close Stranger: Gdańsk — Kalinin- grad — Klaipėda", which presents different views on what unites the three cities in one region. The art-guide is devised as a book for reading with stories of common and individual plots. Project partners from Kaliningrad, Gdańsk and Klaipėda sought to investigate and express themselves about natural and artificially created contradictions, stereotypes and prejudices existing among the neighbours, as well as that very commonality, which makes us really close and interesting to each other, bound by friendship and fondness. Being sort of a resource for all of us, our alliance enabled us to discuss the most difficult issues freely and become rather old friends than close strangers Close Stranger: 7 Gdańsk — Kaliningrad — Klaipėda Ilya Dementev Kaliningrad, Russia PhD in History, Associated Professor at the History chair, Institute for Humanities, Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University Introduction Translated The ancient lands on the south-east coast of the Baltic Sea are destined to bring by Irina Dewar out old memories. For some Germans they evoked Atlantis — a realization of Plato’s myth set in harsh northern climes. The best Greek myths are painted in amber colors. The historian Peter Wörster, in the preface to a collection of municipal plans from former East Prussia, compared her to Gaul, in the words of Caesar, est omnis divisa in partes tres. Today one part is inhabited by Lithuanians, another by Poles and the third by Russians. Koenigsberg, like the Eternal City, was erected on seven hills, but these hills are hardly visible today in the landscape of post-Soviet Kaliningrad. From Gdańsk to Klaipėda traces of the past give us food for thought about the perishable nature of earthly things. All of us, around strangers, are a bit withdrawn. We also recognize the eloquent nature of a ruin that is so characteristic of olden times. A ruin is a frequent cause of sadness, but a man in times past was not able for long to be introspective. The ancient mind, as was well known in the classics, was the mind of a traveller. Over the centuries the Baltic coast gave shelter to many wanderers, from Wolfstan and Ibrahim ibn Jakub to the curious tourists of our own days — thousands and thousands of travellers wearing out their shoe leather on these roads, taking shelter in the shade of trees on the banks of ri- vers, and being entranced by the landscape and the architectural masterpieces. It is more difficult for us today than for the discoverers of this region, because we are obliged to travel in four dimensions — in space, like our forebears, but also in time, because every corner of this land that is divided into three parts has some history to tell. This divided land is reunited through shared myths, 8 legends, stories and narratives, and strangers travelling in various directions unexpectedly can find that they are considerably closer to each other than thought. A travelogue, a record of a journey, is the most suitable genre in order to overcome the contradiction between space and time, between near and far, between oneself and others. This book was planned as a guide-book for those who are interested in the past and present of this large region, with the ancient cities of Gdańsk and Klaipėda positioned on the edges and Kaliningrad, for a few centuries in the past the capital of this land, in the center. The contributors to this guide-book show the readers that although our region is divided into three parts, like Caesar’s Gaul, there will always be that which unites those of us who live here above and beyond borders. We share the same landscape, a common cultural heritage, and mutual respect. Neighbours do not go through life without problems from time to time, but the resolution of such problems cannot be done without the participation of neighbours. Looking at one’s neighbour — whether critically or ironically or benevolently is a form of sightseeing that also deserves attention. We invite you on a journey through one of the most remarkable regions of Europe. Bon Voyage! Close Stranger: 9 Gdańsk — Kaliningrad — Klaipėda А-1 Akimov Danil Akimov Danil Kaliningrad, Russia Sound artist, curator of the Baltic Branch of the National Centre for Contemporary Arts "My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days", or a Brief Guide to "Powerless Places" of Kaliningrad, Gdańsk and Klaipėda Translated For most travellers, a city opens up and is remembered by its key pieces of by Jeffrey Gorovits architecture, urban structure and general atmosphere of the streets, arising as a consequence of the life of residents and visitors. That’s all you can see and feel in the daytime. But there are plenty of researchers who familiarize them- selves with the places they visit primarily in the evening and at night, when the city and its inhabitants officially take a rest.