Undefined

Undefined is what we feel after our first week of our Artist in Residence in Kaunas. What we learned?! Once again, nothing is what it appears to be. In Kaunas are we part of the East? Of the West? Undefined!

Only some 25 years ago, Lithuania once again declared its independency from Russia. Now the people who grew up in the Russian times, the older generations, desperately want to be part of the West. The younger generation, with a distinct progressieve outlook, say that they live in the East and use it only to define the coordinates on the map.

Kaunas as a city is also undefined.
Hipster coffee bars with the old babushka’s drinking their latte’s. But also poor old ladies selling their own produce in the streets, alongside smoking girls with high heels in high fashion. Kaunas is a student city with a lot of diversity and its people live in almost parallel worlds. Yet you feel their drive to become something special in the world at large.

Yesterday, we suddenly were spectators in something special!
Something that brought all people from Kaunas together. Literary! In the town’s market square was the unveiling of their Christmas tree. A big spectacle and performance with crowds and crowds of people; families, hipsters, friends and all watching the moment supreme. Apparently a big tradition in Kaunas.

It made us wonder!
A Christmas tree as the symbol for connecting parallel worlds. Can we humans still connect to each other via these ancient symbols?! Or should we try to find new symbols?! Perhaps that is what our Mr. Philips Radio project should strive to become; the art of empathy as a symbol to connect human beings from different backgrounds. Pretty steep assignment 🙂 Here is more to read on our project!