'Modern Love' probes possibilities of expressing and embracing love

The cardinal desire to love in the age of hypervisibility and hyperdistribution of visuals is expressed by the dictates of algorithm patterns. The human relationship is now nurtured by the procedural system of virtual spaces and heightened by augmented reality. Against this, the quest to look for a place of solace when the real-time responses such as likes and comments have substituted physical attention and presence remains unquenched. Yet, the democratic platform extended by the digital spaces has served as a springboard to voice inclusion and diversity. The myopic tendency to approach the normative order is now diluted to open a space for multiplicity. The plurality embraced, as a way to show acceptance and solidarity is another side of the emotional apocalypse determined by the digital way of life. 

The exhibition Modern Love (or Love in the Age of Cold Intimacies), curated by Katerina Gregos at the National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens, gives an opportunity to reflect on our present and ponder upon our past to ask what the future holds when talking about love. The title of the art exhibition is a reference to Eva Illouz's book, Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism, which argues that intimate relationships have become increasingly defined by economic and political models of bargaining, exchange, and equity. The exhibition is a part of ongoing research, Modern Love comes to Greece after presentations at the Museum für Neue Kunst (Germany), Tallinna Kunstihoone (Estonia), IMPAKT (Centre for Media Culture) and Centraal Museum (the Netherlands). For its presentation in Athens, the selection of artists has been expanded to include Greek as well as international artists, most of whom are presenting their work for the first time in Greece.

Modern Love deals with the sense of alienation and recluse dovetailed to the commodification of feelings and the negative expressions of love, and, for comparison, while also delving into meaningful and transformative forms of love from the personal sphere. Participating visual artists include Gabriel Abrantes, Melanie Bonajo, Candice Breitz, Laura Cemin, Benjamin Crotty, Marijke De Roover, Kyriaki Goni, David Haines, Juliet Jacques, Mahmoud Khaled, Sanam Khatibi, Duran Lantink, Lauren Lee McCarthy, Kyle McDonald, Maria Mavropoulou, Marge Monko, Yorgos Prinos, Peter Puklus, Margaret Salmon, and Hannah Toticki, amongst others. 

In an interview with STIR, Gregos walks us through the ideation process of Modern Love or Love in the Age of Cold Intimacies, "It is an exploration of the state of love, intimate relationships, and human bonds in the age of the internet, social media, and high capitalism, probing how the digital world, the impact of technology giants, and neo-liberal practices have transformed love, social relations, and the way we interact with one another.” Furthermore, “While the accessibility of the internet to an ever-greater number of people has had liberating and empowering effects, we also live in a time that philosopher Byung-Chul Han has defined as 'emotional capitalism,' where human emotions have been co-opted by market forces. While also offering an open and potentially endless sense of possibility, the dating supermarkets of Tinder and Grindr and the ease of digital exchange have also hollowed out relationships and led to selfish or narcissistic forms of behaviour and the creation and curation of misleading images of the self, making it ever more difficult to establish what is real, meaningful, or true,” informs Gregos. 

The exhibition looks at the many possibilities the internet has offered to liberate non-heteronormative sexual identities and give them free space for expression, especially in societies where queerness or non-binary sexuality are considered taboo, or even forbidden. It also explores the human pathologies associated with the commodification of emotion and the effects of digital dependency on relationships, as well as the issues that arise when the boundaries between the public and private, as well as the virtual and the real, become increasingly fluid.

Modern Love (or Love in the Age of Cold Intimacies) is as much about individuals as it is about the systems of control that bind everyone together. It recognises love as a potent emotional force and intense psychological bond between people that give meaning to our lives in ways that no other interaction, object, or experience can. Equally, it is about new societal patterns, investigating the challenges and possibilities that the internet and social media present. 

Towards the end of the interview, Gregos leaves us with succinct questions to look into while experiencing the exhibition, "At a time of increasing alienation, individualism, and loneliness—symptoms of our world's urbanised lifestyles—how can we reclaim meaningful intimate relationships? How can love be rescued from the claws of capitalism and the corporate technosphere? How can one resist the instrumentalisation of love, its superficialisation and banalisation by commerce and social media? Modern Love (or Love in the Age of Cold Intimacies) looks into the pathologies and problems afflicting love and matters of the heart, and attempts to help us imagine a way out of our current alienation, emotional sterility, and loneliness.”

The exhibition Modern Love runs at the National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST) until April 16, 2023.