Demanding the impossible

I am treading into the future. Now is not the time to think or to remember; it is the time to be afraid. I am afraid that I will remember the fear. It terrifies me: the flowers, meadows and forests I won’t have time to show my daughter – nor buy for her – and the frogs, cats and blankets she will never have time to touch. And so sometimes I hold myself closed off, with my hands entwined around each other like snakes. I don’t think about it consciously, but if that lady looked at me and wondered why I held myself that way – and then woke up with tiny white crystalline beads on her face – she could be sure that this is why. Because of something that is here but not here; you feel it, but you don’t know what it is. You know what I mean! You feel it, don’t you? Oh, that’s right – on the way here I got into three fights on the tram. In my head.

The original production Demanding the Impossible examines the boundaries of freedom – both in art and in everyday life. It provokes freedom, massages it, and tries to squeeze it into a definition that is impossible to create without imagining the opposite of this abstract concept. How can we speak of freedom without invoking unfreedom? Even the act of defining freedom imposes boundaries, limiting and restricting its meaning. Is anarchy all that remains? Post-structuralism? And then what? How can we demand that everyone understand freedom the way we do – that being the only “correct” way – without defining the word freedom and without harming the word itself?

Don’t be mistaken – this is not a generational statement. It is simply a statement. An ordinary, general statement.

“I was there in 1968 and I took part in the demonstrations, but later I became a realist.” No! We must erase the boundary between the possible and the impossible and redefine it. (Slavoj Žižek, Demanding the Impossible)

Although we did not work directly with Demanding the Impossible during our research and creation process, we discovered unexpected affinities across many of its thematic layers. The idea of blurring the line between the possible and the impossible – and redefining it – resonated deeply with us, not only as an artistic stance but also as a civic imperative. At a time when settling for the “possible” has become a form of resignation, demanding the “impossible” appears to be the more realistic path toward change. We also drew inspiration from Žižek himself – from his uncompromising attitude, rhetorical unrestrainedness, and his ability to articulate complex social contradictions with both urgency and humour. In the production, we likewise address the issue of “pseudo-activity,” which today often masquerades as political engagement, yet in reality obscures any genuine, deeply rooted desire for change.