Strolling along the seafront in Baku and gazing out the leaden grey Caspian Sea for the first time in my life, a thought crossed my mind: a country's aspirations are directly proportional to the size of the flags you see along the roads.
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The oil fields have turned this former Soviet republic into an extremely profitable company, whose unchallenged, acclaimed head is the president himself, Ilham Aliyev. Most of this efforts have gone into building a country that is proud of its identity and fully aware of its roots, but at the same time a secular country eager to follow in the footprints of the West and adopt its habits and lifestyle. This is why so much has been and will be invested in architecture, design and art: a sophisticated way of hardwriting its progress. Many are wondering whether this is the route Azerbaijan is going to take in order to join European club once and for all.
There's one field where the signals have been loud and clear for some time now: contemporary art.