Gefühle am Ende der Welt

Nähe (proximity) is the condition for effectiveness in any non-violent human interaction. In order for us to change or help each other, we have to move into proximity, where it is at best warm and safe, sometimes close and sticky, but always risky. Distance and proximity, however, have swapped roles in a strange way during the pandemic years. While distance became a sign of solidarity and prudence, proximity became a potential danger. In what forms does the return of proximity take place? How are the spaces in which it was usually practised? How do partying, making out and riding the underground function after the experience of social distancing? Are there media and languages that replace touch or compensate for its absence? The time seems to have come to talk about closeness, its loss and recovery, its promise but also its threat, and about the ways in which it is created and squandered. What ways does closeness find to prevent people from becoming strangers to each other in complex forms of relationships, political conditions and cultural circumstances?