Post-Love. The Future of Human Intimacies

There are times when love reaches a dead end for two or three people. And there are times when love, sex, closeness, and friendship reach a dead end all at once for many, for entire societies; this happens when entire institutions and states urge citizens to turn a blind eye to changes in the world, to think that there is something unchanging in human relationships, and to live as if it were the eternal 19th century. In Russia, as in many other places, love has definitely reached a dead end; the necropolitics of the past and present inhabit the public sphere with sacred ghosts and stifle the conversation about living human bodies, the diversity of their forms, and their relationships. As a result, there are fewer meaningful relationships that bring joy and stability to all parties, and more violence. People profess their love, but love itself remains unexplained. In place of traditions, questions emerge as festering wounds: who really needs a family, why is friendship seemingly less valuable than love, who wants citizens to be happy, who determines happiness, why is love considered mandatory for all, and why are hundreds of millions of people denied the right to it, why are intimacies a personal right for everyone, and why is that a bad thing, what does this have to do with urban planning, migration flows, pharmacology, the state apparatus, the division of labor, the climate crisis, the production of mobile technology, drones, and coral reefs.