Edge of Reason

A philosophically questioning podcast exploring the principles of The Enlightenment through the lens of contemporary art and its cutting-edge creators.

Edge of Reason—an original podcast series produced in partnership between Atlantic Re:think and Hauser & Wirth—examines the enduring principles of The Enlightenment through the prism of contemporary art and culture. Over six episodes, host Jeff Chang leads thought-provoking discussions with today’s most influential artists and thinkers, exploring concepts like liberty, humanism, and progress through art and culture. Edge of Reason expertly merges historical ideas with current societal and technological contexts, providing listeners a unique perspective and fresh understanding of these timeless Enlightenment concepts and their impact today.

See the results

The Story

Creating the Podcast

*Edge of Reason *is just as much an interview series with today’s biggest names in contemporary art as it is a podcast about The Enlightenment. From the outset, our challenge was to figure out how to discuss a centuries-old philosophical movement in a way that felt relevant to our world today. Every decision—from curation of content, to choice of host and development of the show’s aesthetic—was carefully made to enrich the listener’s experience, deepen their appreciation of Hauser & Wirth’s artists, and illuminate the enduring principles of The Enlightenment.

Talent

Finding the Voice
of Reason

Connecting the dots from contemporary art to the philosophical pillars of The Enlightenment called for a singular type of host, someone with an accessible outsider perspective that could handily combine intellectual depth with cultural dexterity, and moderate conversations between unfiltered artists and left-brain experts.

Acclaimed writer and cultural commentator Jeff Chang emerged as our ideal solution. Author of Who We Be and the American Book Award-winning Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, Chang excels at relating visual culture to complex societal themes. This expertise enabled him to quickly earn the respect of series’ guests and establish relatability and rapport that listeners could feel.

Design

Sculpting the
Visual Identity

Edge of Reason’s design direction balances classical elegance with modern minimalism, mirroring the melding of Enlightenment-era thought and contemporary art. The visual identity echoes the classic typographic style and order of the era, whose moniker, the Age of Reason, we recontextualized for the podcast’s title. A subtle wink to those paying attention, the title is also pushed to the very edge, leaving ample room for modern artwork. The podcast’s home on* TheAtlantic.com* functions as both a listening platform and a gallery, inviting listeners to steep in each artist’s body of work while immersing themselves in the interviews.

Edge of Reason — landing page

Talent

Orchestrating
Conversations

Aiming to transcend traditional art dialogue, we recognized the need to pair Hauser & Wirth artists with unexpected interlocutors to elevate discussions of individualism, inquiry, and liberty to surprising (sometimes even thrilling) places. This meant casting from disciplines with wholly different forms, processes, and schools of thought. Poets, scholars, and psychoanalysts became the third leg of the stool, joining our artists to explore the connections between art, philosophy, ethics, and our own humanity. This unique structure was key in achieving a series that went further and deeper into what drives artistic work—and how listeners might more meaningfully engage with it.

American poet and psychoanalyst Nuar Alsadir

Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, psycholinguist Steven Pinker

Xicana feminist, writer, activist Cherríe Moraga

Poet and scholar Dr. Elizabeth Alexander

Results

The Art of
Audience Building

Edge of Reason’s success proved we mastered both the art of additive audio storytelling in a saturated market and the science of audience retention. Multi-platform episode distribution boosted by social-first audiograms placed our series in the top 1% of podcasts worldwide. We maintained that momentum by maintaining quality, posting a +57% subscriber between episodes 2 and 3. To date, visitors have spent more than 3,500 hours on the series landing page. And, germane to Hauser & Wirth’s goal to increase engagement with contemporary art, respondents in a brand perception survey reported an +18% lift in intent to visit a Hauser & Wirth gallery soon after listening.