Rakvere happened to be one of Estonian cities with the biggest influx of war refugees from Ukraine. The city dynamics and the purposes of many of its public spaces have changed. However, neither those events nor changes seemed to be reflected upon in the context of Baltoscandal, the festival taking place in and occupying half of this city. As it usually is, during the festivals with international guests and participants the cities with its residents turn into mere backgrounds. To give presence and voice to the city itself, to acknowledge the efforts of its many actors’ self-organization in supporting Ukrainian refugees, the artists Bohdana Korohod and Daria Khrystych focused on the research of the affective landscape of Rakvere during March-June 2022.
Through walking interviews, they have explored the city together with its different residents, from locals to newly arrived Ukrainians, to its natural inhabitants such as boulders. The artists have worked with walking methodologies, practices of dérive, mapping and dramaturgy of care in their site-reflective research.
As a result, they have composed three scripted walks which act as condensed affective perceptions of the city. In collaboration with the sound artist Sander Saarmets music compositions were created to accompany each of the walks. The major characteristic of these walks is that they are supposed to be read while walking in the city of Rakvere.
To ensure that the work is accessible by the city’s diverse residents and visitors, each walk in the book is written in English, Estonian and Ukrainian. The book can be owned for free or borrowed from the library and returned later depending on the audience’s decision.
After the festival has finished, the book has traveled around countries and started living its own life. Currently the copies are available in Ukraine, Portugal, Sweden and Finland. The Reader is free in where and how to use the scripted walks.