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Archive for the ‘travel’ Category

Just back from a few days of talks and discussions in Copenhagen with a bunch of really smart people. Yet again a success as it has been the six times before this Oasis ( http://www.nurope.eu ). The Nurope Project is in it’s last phase and a new direction and form is in the making, however this process is not as easy as one could think as the group is very diverse and the process itself very open.

The project has created a strong network between the participants and spin-off projects have emerged during these two years that the project has been going on. Some of them were presented in Copenhagen as a basis for future discussions.

For me personally these seven Oases (conferences) have formed a kind of, vision of, what I want to develop in regard to a personal development regarding issues discussed on these meetings. The very open and including atmosphere during these oases has for me been most important, even though I have no or near to no background in Art, Philosophy and Enterprise. I feel like I have been a part of the group and there has always been someone that explains this part or that to me even though some of my questions have been very basic.

When this journey started out I frequently called myself an Art Virgin – meaning that before this moment I’d had no “real” contact with art (if i exclude music that is). Now during two years I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing a multitude of artwork with a growing interest.

In Stockholm about 7 months ago someone guided me gently through a part of the “Moderna Museet” and opened my eyes. Before that I’d felt some pieces “talk to me” but I’d not really had the confidence to trust myself in regard to that experience. The Truth is Out There, as well as in here. This is part of the Nurope experience to me.

to be continued…
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Regarding the “eco vacations” some travel agencies sell these days;

One of the best eco vacations would be local travel by bicycle or by foot. I’m sure there are many a location fairly near to where one lives that you have not visited or don’t know much about.

For a more distant location rail is by far the best (most efficient regarding energy) trips under a 1000km should if at all possible be done by rail. If you have to fly try to book your flights so that you fly non-stop as takeoff takes up to 25% of the total fuel consumption during a flight.

For accommodation, camping (in a responsible way), certified hostels hotels and the like by any “green” standard, The Green key, ISO etc. or otherwise proof of the fact that the place you stay really does something for the environment. These places might do a minimum for getting the piece of paper that says they are “green” but they are promoting environmentally friendly lodgings and you know that they will have had to at least think about these issues.

I think part of the ideal eco vacation is the process of planning an eco vacation it’s a very informative process that more of us should go through.

When considering activities try to consume services and experiences that has a minimum impact on the local environment but brings a maximum revenue (that you can afford) to the local population. Try not to consume goods, one of the reasons being it’s very hard to know what impact that little hand-painted-made on the other side of the world souvenir has on the environment.

You can of course buy a “eco-vacation” from a travel agency but an important part of the eco is to understand and know what exactly is your impact on the environment when you do go on vacation.

For more information have a look at this site as an example http://www.ecotourism.org/index.html

The latest oasis, the first in the 2nd expedition of the Nurope has just finished and I was again happy that I attended. During the days we met a lot of different people, to describe it a bit, we met “1/4th” of Laibach something of a national icon part of an awakening in Slovenia regarding media censorship public participation democracy philosophy etc. They told us about the process how they came to be, what the reactions were to their work, how they overcame some of the negative reactions and described to an extent how they work. One thing they said I can’t help but repeat

“You can’t come with flowers or you can but the idea is bizarre.”

This is I suppose is part of what I think art is, simple sometimes everyday things that can move or affect in a great way, “…a little bit”.

On Saturday a party was arranged in the City Museum, DJ Emil was playing. We, me and Kim had our first public screening of our road movie a rough cut version. To which we got some really good feedback and even some professional advice as some of the participants have a little experience in cultural productions.
The local hosts had done a wonderful job and everything worked very smoothly. We were mostly working in the City Museum but also had sessions walking around the city, at the ministry for commerce and Moderna Gallerija.

Ljubljana is one of my favourite cities in Europe and not because of the nice riverbank cafés or the great architecture, the nice small squares, the castle looking down over the city, no, those are just a small part, the nicest part of Ljubljana by far was the people! Friendly, helpful, nice, beautiful and smart ) Thank you all for making my stay a great one.

But back to the culturally vibrant side of town or in this case the capital of Slovenia. Ljubljana felt more alive than many other cities, and for me I think it’s partly because of the graffiti. The art form was everywhere but in most cases done very tastefully and with great skill. You often see graffiti and tags written all over and with most larger works on smooth surfaces. I was impressed that they in Ljubljana used the weave of the surface as a part of the piece. As an example, there was a city painted on a wall at an under-pass, however the wall was made up of vertical lines in the cement  ||||||||||||||||| this pattern was simply used as a part of the work and made into sky rises by painting windows on them short black lines simulating windows and floors the material painted on did the rest.

In ten days I will be attending the oasis in Istanbul and I look forward to the experience immensely.

I recently added some (other than flickr) galleries from my trip to Biella in northern Italy in february. You can find them via this link or by visiting the [Galleries] page and following the Nurope galleries link. I’ll be adding galleries form all Nurope expeditions I have o r will take part in, perhaps even some other =o).