OBS - Optimum Biomechanical System (2012)
Optimum Biomechanical System was an adventure, endurance performance, and conceptual statement inspired by the shared experiences of very different yet geographically neighboring cultures. Influenced by the poetry of Kristian Jaak Peterson’s walks between Estonia and Latvia, and the beautiful protest, The Baltic Way, I decided to take such a journey. In June 2012, I made a 340km walk in 12 days from Polymer Culture Factory in Tallinn, Estonia, to Totaldobže Artist Center in Riga, Latvia.
I have been involved with these cultural centers as an artist-in-resident, workshop facilitator, and performer. Like many other arts initiatives and non-profit organizations, I was interested in how they communally operate, often without funding, and yet be crucial hubs of activism, alternative education, and thriving artistic culture.
I crowdfunded the walk with Pozible and received a sponsored smartphone from Tele2 to interact with my audience online. It received press through newspaper articles, radio, and online television in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Following the journey, I presented the material at Baltic festivals and workshops by mixing the recorded spoken word, imagery, and documentation from the journey, after which there was 30min open discussion on the sustainability of underground culture centers in Eastern Europe.