Loneliness doesn't necessarily require physical solitude, but rather an absence or paucity of connection, closeness, kinship: an inability, for one reason or another, to find as much intimacy, writes Olivia Laing in 'The Lonely City'. While we seek lone bubbles to replenish our creativity, a sense of lack in belonging can be alienating. After all, our kinships bear us.

Building solidarities is how we survive. Through small acts of care—cooking a meal together, peeling an orange for someone, sending flowers—we construct our kin. It is this that offers us a sense of identity, of belonging, and a shared past. They fuel our creative practices then. Creativity thrives in community, in rejecting alienation to foster spaces of understanding. If not for the love/care of our kin, what would survive of us?

This week's issue looks at the idea of belonging through our connections, overcoming the structures that alienate us. Museum director Rein Wolfs talks about fostering diversity in Stedelijk's programme, bridging Western voices with those from the Global South. Building towards community and its relationship with our landscapes is the focus of programming for Asif Khan's Tselinny Center. Conversely, we critique the alienating spaces of our offices through a look at the ongoing show 'Severance'.

What we build, we build together, not just with those around us, but also with the planetary. Through what acts do we truly belong?