To the edge of invisible and beyond!

One of the events on my geek itinerary every year is the Slovenian geek convention – Na meji nevidnega (NMN). The name translates to English as “On the edge/border of invisible” and I may be a bit biassed since a lot of my friends and even my partner are part of the organising team, but I’d say NMN has established itself as the main Slovenian geek convention by now and they have come a long way from their first event in 2013.

At this point, NMN attracts over 2500 visitors and international guests, all the big names from the local scene and about 100 exhibitors (shops, companies, artists and creators). It is often said that Na meji nevidnega is like the Slovenian Comic-Con, but I love that they go way beyond comics and offer a wonderful mix of everything geek: board games, gaming, Magic the Gathering, cosplay, anime, LARP, D&D, miniature painting, comics, books, LEGOs, movies, historical reenactment and geek sports like quidditch etc.. From Pokemon and Harry Potter, to Lord of the Rings and Warhammer, there is something from everyone and if you’re a visiting geek in town at the right time, it is really worth buying a ticket. They sell out fast, though.

It is a one day event with a packed programme full of lectures, presentations, quizzes, discussion panels and the all important cosplay competition. The lectures and discussion panels have covered topics such as the current Slovenian fantasy literature, the Metaverse, Star Trek, Dune, fantasy VS traditional mythology, the Slovenian translation of the Witcher and LOTR books and so on, as well as presentations of new board games and video game projects, a live recording of the popular Slovenian podcast O.B.O.D., a super difficult geek quiz and an impro show. Most of these are usually in Slovenian, unless they’re organised by international guests, but even as a foreigner you could still browse the exhibition stalls, join a short D&D session, play a board game or try out something in the gaming corner, paint your own miniature or just enjoy the cosplay competition and the amazing costumes people create.

Impressions from Na meji nevidnega 2022 & 2023

Even though the Slovenian geek scene is relatively small, it is quite diverse and most of us co-create it for free as a hobby. By now there’s a Slovenian society for practically everything geek out there and I usually spend most of my time at NMN at the LARP Slovenia booth promoting our LARP community, which has now teamed up with Amulet D20. Despite that I always manage to have a look around and buy random geek stuff I absolutely need (usually books, board games and art stickers). I also always watch the cosplay competition where my amazing friends often win (check out Black Tea Cosplay from the cover of this post and Ursa Bizzare for example, as well as other Slovenian cosplayers who are consistently doing a great job, like Royal Pain Cosplay, Klarux and LonelywolfJ).

Our LARP Slovenia BOOTH (2022)

The shopping booths are always pretty cool: lots of artists like Hana Nekrep, Nyradir, Cheeky Orchid, Bibi and Sara Wired with their prints, badges, stickers and cards, geek crafters like Art Maniushka and Kocke klub with unique LEGO design kits, all sorts of companies offering popular fantasy and anime merch, mystery boxes, Asian food and sweets and anything else geeky. Naturally they all offer limited convention discounts and packages, so it’s worth taking advantage of that. I am also happy to see that the major Slovenian publishing houses have started taking fantasy literature more seriously and that there are always a lot of board game stalls + there is usually some tasty food too. You can see what I bought for myself in 2022 as an example below:

Considering that Slovenia only has 2 million inhabitants, it is amazing that my friends have managed to establish a proper geek convention, held at Ljubljana’s main convention and exhibition centre no less. I hope that Na meji nevidnega continues to improve every year and cannot wait to see what they will have in store for us in the future!

Also, here’s an after con video from 2022 by fps_Juvan:

Original post from May 2022, updated in May 2023.