“Tourists went on holidays while travellers did something else. They travelled.”
So i've been in the Czech Republic for about 15 days now and I've slowly gotten adjusted to my new surroundings. Not only is this the first time i've left the US but I also must get acquainted with my 74 other Remote Year companions. In the past week we've done so many activities that you would think I would be mentally and physically exhausted but, in actuality, the non-stop activities have just increased my ability to take on more stimulation than I previously would of been comfortable with. It's all part of the process.
I've been making an effort to connect with the local musicians here in Prague and i've been pleasantly surprised. So far, i've already attended a Atlanta themed trap night at a underground/pop-up show by getting a personal introduction by local musician Piqi Miqi, who himself makes music that couldn't be any further from trap. Also i've been turned on to local artist Paulie Garand.
Last week we had our first real orientation of sorts whereby all 75 Remote Year participants were invited to this really cool place called "Forbidden Spot". The space seemed abandoned until you entered and realized that it had been turned into this really cool, off the beaten path, clubhouse of sorts.
And, over the weekend, I went on a tour of the city to see all the various artworks and sculptures of famous Czech artist David Cerny. Many of his pieces, upon first inspection, tend to have you giggle a bit followed by deep thought as he seems to always want the viewer the question even the concept of art itself. We got to see pieces such as: "Two Peeing Guys", "Car With Legs"(not pictured)", "Svaty Vaclav" (The hanging horse)", & "Zizkov TV Tower with Crawling Babies". The most interesting of these has to be the Zizkov tower which is located right beside the apartment i'm staying for the month. The tower features faceless babies crawling up and down it which, while intriguing, are pretty terrifying when you first see it. The babies remind me of the low-fi 3D rendered baby featured on Ally McBeal back in the 90s.
We also ended one of our tours by visiting the Meet Factory which also features some pieces from David Cerny, but I found myself more interested in the space itself. Meet Factory is a meeting place for all types of artists to come and collaborate on projects of all types. They provide the artists a cool place to live, work and collaborate. The space also features an open air theater where one movie is voted on and shown every week. This is probably one of the coolest places i've seen so far where a group of people came together and found ways to elevate artists despite low funds.
Overall, i've had a very eventful past few weeks which is crazy considering this is only the beginning of my trek.
