One of Musagetes’ cities of focus is Rijeka, Croatia, situated at the top of the Adriatic. In this essay by Executive Director Shawn Van Sluys, we investigate the belief that the arts are the key to imagining a future beyond the current crumbling state of its industry. Rijeka’s waterbreak pier is the most iconic of spaces for this transition, and Musagetes invited artists Matthew Mazzotta and Laetitia Sonami to be in residence in Rijeka in 2011 and 2012. This essay talks about the poetics and possibilities in both of these projects.