Although I had never been to Kaliningrad before, it felt like a homecoming in a way. The city is home to the wonderful Baltic Branch of the National Center for Contemporary Arts, directed by Elena Tsvetaeva and Evgeny Umansky. For almost 15 years, the center has promoted cross-cultural ties in the Baltic region, including Northern Europe and the new European countries of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. The role of NCCA branches in the Russian regions is a subject in its own right: they literally shape the cultural life of cities and entire regions. As a rule, they are run by a group of art enthusiasts and close friends that manage to organize exhibitions and festivals, despite a chronic shortage of money. Sometimes, as in the case of NCCA Kaliningrad, they even make forays into completely new formats such as Sound Around, the first Russian festival of sound art. A small sentimental aside: I first met Elena Tsvetaeva when I came to work at NCCA Moscow at the age of 18, and so my trip to Kaliningrad was like a visit to the home of close friends. This is also why I was so eager to take a look at the former German barracks and Kronprinz Tower, which have been put at NCCA’s disposal and whose reconstruction will hopefully be completed soon with the help of God or the assistance of the city government.