What’s love got to do with it? 2023

What's love got to do with it?

“A culture of domination is anti-love. It requires violence to sustain itself. To choose love is to go against the prevailing values of the culture. Many people feel unable to love either themselves or others because they do not know what love is.” Bell Hooks (1994) In the light of the current situation deeply shaped by conflicts and disasters caused by anthropocentric politics, actions and practices, we ask ourselves the question: “What’s love got to do with it?” In her writings Bell Hooks identifies Love as a blind spot within the human struggle for liberation, from oppression and exploitation. The white male supremacist domination of the planet attributed to love becoming a symptom of weakness, that love has no value. We might have forgotten what love really is or perhaps we’ve never really understood its meaning since it became capitalized and traded as a commodity-chain, sold as desire that can and should be consumed at a fast pace. Love in its true meaning is something that people might feel ashamed to relate with, as an old-fashioned concept, in the same way Tina Turner declined love in her musical success hit in 1984. Loving is a verb that demands for action and for choice and can become an important tool to decolonize and to demystify systems of oppression. We need to critically question our position within the planet of beings and things. To love is to care for the others. Love is rooted in community, in exchange and democratic choices. In order to recover love we need social changes rooted in new love ethics. The exhibition “What’s love got to do with it?” aims to be an essay and a tribute to new love politics acknowledging caring as a crucial facet of Love for creating, repairing, and empowering our relations with the world.