wastelands

Another colleague of me wrote a short travel post when attending the Mustarinda residency in northern Finland. The residency that I have also attended for a total of two months in 2021-2022, has an explicit ecological dimension.

They favouritise land & sea travel, a venture they also channel extra funding towards. In exchange they ask for a short piece of writing relating to the travel.

My colleague titled their post 'Travels across the intermediary wasteland'.

In our subsequent friendly banter this has come to (lovingly) mean Sweden.

The trip I am currently on, Helsinki-Turku-Stockholm-Copenhagen (soon to be complemented with Hamburg-Brussels-London-Glasgow) is strange even by my standards of land-travel.

Once my obligations in Helsinki done, the task was to get to Glasgow as quickly as possible to attend 2 days of planning next year's Nordic Music Days, the curator team of which I was asked to join through a recommendation by the Finnish Composer's Society. Once the work in Glasgow would be completed, the task is to return back to Helsinki as soon as possible inorder to attend the Helena marathon skiing competition by the Holy Lake Pyhjärvi on Sunday.

Two nights to get there, three to get back, with a mere two nights at the destination.

Considering speed of travel needed for this venture, there is a danger for the intermediary countries to become wastelands.

I imagine swimming through a tube, holding breath until exiting the other side to rise back to the surface to draw breath. The tube and the water are a hindrance, not an adventure. I'd rather already be at the surface, not needing to pass through this submerged tube.

Contributing to this feeling of distracted transition, is the fact that I have made this trip numerous times in recent years, as part of my practice of committing to land-travel wherever possible.

Nothing is new.

On the other hand, everything is, of course. Both the observer and what is being observed. Another season, perhaps new human and non-human animal encounters.

New ideas.

Time to dwell into thoughts forming, the focus aided by the nonchalance of the moving landscape saying: 'nothing to see here, please get back to your thoughts'. Or: 'look over here, do you notice this lack of snow? we're giving you a pre-order package of the spring  soon coming on show to theatres near you'.

For me this particular trip is a necessary transit between two points, and the amplitude of the travel time caused by land & sea travel is much more about mental space than anything else.

I'm practically avoiding getting in touch with my friends and family that live on my itinerary, because I know I don't have time to meet them.

Normally I would put aside at least 2 weeks for a trip like this, so that I could vibe with loved-ones in London, Belgium, Hamburg and Copenhagen.

Not to mention the possibilities of creating and nurturing also professional ties in these locations, in view up an upcoming album release and upcoming concerts.

So the territories crossed by my trip are wastelands only insofar as they are necessary evils of fast transit.

As facilitators of mental space they are positively teeming with life.