Last week I took the early morning train to Innsbruck which involved a stopover at the Brenner pass. By the time I arrived, the sun had risen. It was a gorgeous blue-sky day. Azure blue, the kind that contrasts against snow-capped peaks. Instead of taking a taxi, I chose to walk uphill to Schloss Büchsenhausen, which is on the way to the Alpine Zoo. My feet needed no form of steering. I didn’t need to look up where I was on a map in relation to where I needed to go to. I knew the way by heart and by sight. In fact, I knew multiple ways of arrival. I had walked to and fro so many times between 2021 and 2022, I could get there blindfolded.

The approach I took last Thursday was not different or unusual, I meandered through the old city, past the glint of the golden roof and the bridge over the river Inn, and then I took the right turn that passes by the statue of Walther von der Vögelweide and crossed the road two shops away from the Kebap joint run by a Kurdish woman who makes excellent falafel. I walked uphill towards the church of Saint Nikolaus, crossed the road and began the leftward ascent until I arrived at the residency space which had hosted me back then—Künstler:innenhaus Büchsenhausen. This time I wasn’t there to participate in an event or even to do my own research. When Veronika, one of the administrators of the space, greeted and hugged me, she said, ‘Welcome back in this new role’. I told her how excited I was. Soon enough, I sat down with another ex-fellow and the director and we kicked off our jurying duties to shortlist fellows for the next year.