in front of the Visa Office of the German Consulate in Kaliningrad.
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The peculiarity of Kaliningrad resides in its shifting layers of identities and cultural references, and its geo-political situation: on one hand the near Europe, on the other the farther mainland Russia. The projection of the abroad, both the near European Union and the farther mainland Russia is a determining question in the identity of the city; but also strengthens the isolation of the region through the effects of border regulations.
In a form of a Travel Route Boutique, that takes the codes of a Travel Agency, the intervention in Kaliningrad would open an abstract view on the idea of travel while using the bureaucratic codex of the Consulate. The visitors of the German Consulate find themselves in the situation of preparation of one travel often stepped by the visa procedures, but maybe in the situation of imagining some other future journeys. The visitors of Travel Route Boutique would enter a process of imagination and daydreaming: instead of pre-defined package tours, they will create their own itinerary made out of their expectations, desires, experiences or souvenirs.
This project is part of the Bauhaus Kolleg IX of the Bauhaus Foundation, Germany. This year, the Bauhaus Kolleg investigates border cities in the Baltic Sea Region as locations at which a new Europe is taking shape. Within this framework the cities of Copenhagen, Malmö, Tallinn, Helsinki and Kaliningrad are platforms for interrogation and research.
Thanks to: the Bauhaus Kolleg IX, the German Consulate in Kaliningrad, NCCA Kaliningrad, the Goethe Institute Saint Petersburg, and BMW.
