On The Verge Of Reason

On the verge of reason (OVR) is a long term project by Boris Bakal and the Shadow Casters, inspired by the homonymous* 1938. novel by Miroslav Krleža, one of the greatest Croatian/ Yugoslavian writers and intellectuals of the 20th century. On The Verge Of Reason is exploring the issue of heroism as civic courage; heroism as consequence of the existence of an individual’s human and ethical values; audacity as a small deed with a potentially huge outcome; heroism as an act of selflessness; heroism as an act of despair and/ or madness.

Acts “on the verge of reason” may be human, ethical, social and/ or political; vertical acts which take place in disjointed times and are perceived as disjointed precisely because of their context. They are performed by “ordinary people”, those who live among us and whose extraordinariness might not be perceived even after their act “on the verge of reason”, simply because it is not visible (or politically correct) enough for official history.

It also reflects on the lack of courage, but also on fears, perplexities/ dilemmas and calculations which prevent people to engage in the creation of social improvements and speak about injustice or crimes they suffer, tolerate or recognize. The project does not accuse or denounce but seek new methods of approaching people who are terrified by vehement aggression of neoliberal capitalism and its adjacent collateral mentalities and methods which nurture its core. On The Verge Of Reason displaces the view towards simple definitions of courage, thus enabling a better understanding of different contexts, in which one act becomes a deed of bravery – or cowardice.

The project also investigates the relation of interlacing private and public spaces within “an act of courage” (regarding political activism, social engagement and artivism) in order to understand how we share or not share our “spaces”. As a result of the two decade development of new media and almost undetectable control of individuals by corporations or state institutions, the so-called private sphere and private space becomes a battlefield for instigating or sabotaging the individual initiative for social and political improvements.

On the other hand, On The Verge Of Reason is also a research and artistic project on “what could be bravery today” and is involving organizations from Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo and Cyprus, i.e. countries who are facing a very delicate and difficult time of their history and existence (ideology of rupture). We think that acts of individual bravery (no matter how small it may be), courage and persistence are of great social value nowadays and are an experience we all should share.

The history of all countries of the Western Balkans (Cyprus alike) is permeated with myths accompanied by acts usually created and committed in the name of nation, religion and/ or ideology. On The Verge Of Reason is focusing on such acts that apparently have no visible grandeur and are not addressing the superstructures, but, on the contrary, stem from individual decisions to go against the grain of the moment, time or circumstances, reacting according to ones own deepest beliefs and out of the necessity to do something for the Other, be it an individual or a community.

Unlike the tragic destiny of the Krleža novel’s hero, On The Verge Of Reason is seeking stories that have either a positive or rather, a more complex outcome. Hence, On The Verge Of Reason wants to challenge the cult of tragic heroism and juxtapose it to the idea and practice of human and civic courage, creating an archive of next-door “heroes”, who can easily be found among us.

*[In the novel On the Edge of Reason the protagonist is a middle-aged lawyer whose life and career have been eminently respectable and respected. One evening, at a party attended by the local elite, he inadvertently blurts out an honest thought. From this moment, all hell breaks loose… In On the Edge of Reason, the Croatian and Yugoslavian writer Miroslav Krleža (1893.-1981.) reveals the fundamental chasm between conformity and individuality. As folly piles on folly, hypocrisy on hypocrisy, reason itself begins to give way, and the edge between reality and unreality disappears. (An English note by the translator, Zora Depolo; the novel was first time published in the English language in 1976. by Vanguard Press)]