Act 6 describes a state of present unknowing and infinite imagining. Throughout our exploratory efforts, it became apparent that the journey was and is still about discovering the space around and between the origins, divides, selves, dams, and symbolizations: they all project outwards a contestable reality, and within this contestation there is the other side of the card. It is within this ‘other’ side - the side of disorientation, unity, otherness, flow, and myth - that we see a direction forward. In this space we meet gestures that are indefinable, unknown yet familiar, which allow for a reactive re-imagining of realities. To pose a question is to enter a void not filled with words or answers, but instead a vast, expansive realm of endless discovery and imagination.

This character of the Balkans is imagined as ‘The Black Holes in our Big White’, and is returning to Mostar & Tirana.

Act 6: The Black Holes in our Big White

Act 5 describes a state of belief in common truths and the notions of culture that these construct. All over the region we saw symbols of collectives and communities; be they religious or political or social, they were all groups of some kind. Symbolization is the form of representing a community of beliefs so that all its individual subjects can feel they have a place to meet on a common ground: one common icon; one common vision; one common reality. When assembled together, these commonalities construct a myth; being in truth only a version of reality that associates particular persons, and illustrates a particular cultural ideal.

This character of the Balkans is imagined as ‘The Symbolizations in our Myth’, and is returning to Sofia & Mostar.

Act 5: The Symbolizations in our Myth

Act 4 describes a state of movement throughout the geographical region. There are barriers, visible or invisible, that control the flow of migrations out of or across or into other states. There arrives the problematic element in our discussion of movements: our project to promote an act of travelling is set in a context where issues of immobility and stagnation are invariably prominent. What we find here are examples of humanistic action that develop a resistance to the barrier; from the inside to the out.

This character of the Balkans is imagined as ‘The Dams in our Flow’, and is returning to Pristina & Sofia.

Act 4: The Dams in our Flow

Act 3 describes a state of reflection between identity and alterity. When there is a culture defining itself as, “I am something you are not”, a line is drawn around the shape of that thing, forming a contrast. On the other side of this line, there is alterity: otherness. Yet the ‘other’ side shares the same line. They together define a shape of the same reality, but by taking opposing viewpoints: that of the inside and that of the outside.

This character of the Balkans is imagined as ‘The Selves in our Otherness’, and is returning to Skopje & Tirana.

Act 3: The Selves in our Otherness

Act 2 describes a state of separation in a region where the lines of demarcation between nation states have been constantly drawn and redrawn throughout recent as well as ancient history. Beyond these territorial lines there endures connections that unite the divided body, found most often within social contexts and paradigms, and it is here where we find the space for our maneuver.

This character of the Balkans is imagined as ‘The Divides in our Unity’, and is returning to Belgrade & Pristina.

Act 2: The Divides in our Unity

Act 1 describes a state of confusion between how an individual or society defines themselves according to their perceivable origins, such as cultural heritage, language, politics, nationality and so on. The alternate state, that of disorientation, refers to the loss of a sense of identity when one hasn’t a clear idea of where they are coming from, or where they are heading towards in the future. It recalls that feeling of disorientation you have when you step out of your comfort zone, into an unfamiliar place, and that feeling of finding something both new and comforting, in a familiar place.

This character of the Balkans is imagined as ‘The Origins in our Disorientation’, and is returning to Belgrade & Skopje.

The Ground Tour Project