“Be a knife for me, and I, I swear, will be a knife for you: sharp but compassionate, your word, not mine.” – David Grossman, “Be My Knife”, Picador (2003, London, England), p8.

The view of reality as a series of interconnected crises, which are part of a larger collective structure, brings me to the critical moment. A split, crack, shiver, sigh, or break which is always sharp and sudden, a sensorial shift which often leads towards a new situation or opportunity. In this performance-lecture I will investigate the critical moment, drawing on existing theoretical research, and more specifically on the book “Kairos or Occasion as Paradigm in the Visual Medium” by Barbara Baert, and my own practice as a composer / visual artist. I will argue that the critical moment can be viewed as an in-between space, where different experiences and perceptions of time occur, with the possibility of also missing or not seizing the opportunity. And I will reflect upon the following questions: Is it possible to “create” a critical moment? What are the conditions or elements in the Umwelt of the artist which may lead to a critical moment? What are the manifestations of Kairos, or the critical, opportune moment?