For a moment, the architecture stopped being the subject. Hassan II Mosque, Casablanca

The Art of Attention I grew up less than 20 minutes from Frank Gehry’s buildings in Düsseldorf. For years, I drove past them without really seeing them. Makes me wonder: is familiarity a poor observer?

Architecture compressing grief into space A corridor of steel carrying 22,000 names and bronze bees toward the Baltic Sea. Tallinn’s Memorial to the Victims of Communism feels designed as a passage from oppression into breath.

KUMU Picks Sunday on Lake Peipsi (1975) by Estonian Artist Urmas Ploomipuu, seen at Kumu Art Museum in Tallinn. The main collection of @kumuartmuseum covers Estonian art from the 18th century onwards.

Layers from the Baltics — or: When history remains visible.

Soviet Modernism Palace of Concerts and Sports, Vilnius (built in 1971, closed in 2004). I liked the shape more than the feeling of standing there.

KUMU Picks Market (1983) by Estonian artist Rein Tamnik, seen at Kumu Art Museum in Tallinn. The main collection of @kumuartmuseum covers Estonian art from the 18th century onwards.

Užupis, the independent artistic republic Užupis is self-declared republic (since 1997) in Vilnius, Lithuania, where artists, intellectuals, and free thinkers shape the streets. With its own constitution and ever-evolving public art, it stands as a living manifesto of creative freedom. The Constitution contains 41 articles detailing the rights of citizens, pets, and the River Vilnelė; it has been translated into over 50 languages and is displayed on a wall.

MO Museum, Vilnius by Daniel Libeskind

Freedom Traveling through the Baltics reminded me: freedom—even the freedom to create—isn’t a given. You can sense the resilience here, and a deep gratitude for the freedom of expression—also in art.