Near the conclusion of my residency here at MoKS, I was invited to give a lecture about my work at the Y Galerii in Tartu. One of the questions that was posited to me at the end my talk was for me to qualify the best experience of my life. It's a question that can't be easily answered, one that parallels the futility of pinpointing my favorite music. It changes every day. So when I think about that initial question on the eve of my departure from MoKS, the experience here is causing me to shudder. I can't say with any honesty that this was the best experience of my life. Such hyperbole is best left to the margins of high school yearbooks. But at the same time, this short month in this foreign land manifested itself as an existential crucible of art, introspection, and ideas.

I approached the time here at MoKS as the opportunity to work in an art laboratory of my own choosing, with my own measures of success, and with no schedule expect for the necessities of sleep. There was a lot which was accomplished -- two albums worth of material have been completed and soon to be delivered to their rightful publishing houses, numerous excursions into the post-Soviet landscape of agricultural and industrial ruins, a particularly gruelling bike ride out to Lake Peipsi, a huge inventory of field recordings and shortwave recordings to use as fodder for future projects, a performance in an observatory, and the aforementioned lecture in Tartu. This is more than I can typically say would amount to six months of activity in my current residence of San Francisco, simply due to all of the other commitments I have in my life. So to have this experience here at MoKS was something truly special; and I hope that I didn't take what was afforded me for granted.

That said, I have to offer my sincerest gratitude to John and Evelyn here at MoKS, to Patrick McGinley for lending me his ear, and for Toomas Thetloff for being Toomas with all of his wit, energy, and creativity.

For those of you who might be inclined to see all of the decent photos taken during my stay in Estonia, check the link below. Note, the accompanying travelogue was written as something of a diary with particular acquaintances in mind. If there's particular references that don't make any sense, accept my apology in advance. www.helenscarsdale.com/eraldus

Humbly,

Jim Haynes
www.helenscarsdale.com/haynes