A world in turmoil, a world of emotions

As the world and its evolution become more incomprehensible, uncertain, and problematic, we feel more helpless and we search in emotional aspects for what we don't find in the rational analysis of our surroundings. There is often a mismatch between what is happening to each of us and how we assess what surrounds us. The typical question we ask when we meet someone we don't see often is "How are you?" And more and more people are saying "Well, if we don't go into details." Everything moves so fast and everything is getting more complicated. Never have there been so many things and tools at our disposal, never have we felt so little like we're getting anywhere, that everything is elusive and unexpectedly fragile. In moments like these, emotions are running high. If you feel understood and are in an environment of trust, you can bring out those more empathetic emotional expressions. And the thrill of being with people who understand you and with whom you share makes you feel good. But these spaces and moments are difficult to find in the daily acceleration and disquiet that unsettles everything.

Politics increasingly plays with emotions, but no longer from the perspective of generating camaraderie among those who think like-minded, but rather using emotions like hatred or anger to unite in a negative way. And a politics without positive emotional ties, without ties of narrative and shared future, is a heavy and harsh politics. Eighty years have passed since the end of World War II. And then, when the options that fostered great conflicts based on hatred and contempt, on the merciless power of those who believed themselves stronger, seemed definitively overcome, a consensus was built in Europe centered on the recognition of diversity, the importance of equity, and the desire for inclusion. Precisely the three points that today have become the very thing to radically eliminate from positions that precisely recover the most negative emotions to build their individualistic and unsupportive message.

Surveys being conducted around the world reveal a sense of resentment among those disappointed by the failure to meet their long-held expectations, fueled by advertising that makes people believe everything is within reach. It seems quite clear that the rapidly changing era we are currently experiencing is generating fears and anxieties that can easily find refuge in highly volatile, poorly founded political proposals, yet capable of establishing emotional ties between those who feel undervalued and unheard. The reality and functioning of advanced democracies are increasingly complex. Some connect with these fears and uncertainties without buffers, while others are forced to embrace nuance and consensus.

A magnificent exhibition has just opened at the CCCB, co-produced with the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, entitled In the moved air, a scaffolding based on the work of philosopher and image specialist Georges Didi-Huberman, which will also feature the collaboration of the Filmoteca de Catalunya. The exhibition is a tribute to emotions understood not as pure individual and introspective expression, but above all as the bonds that bring us closer to others. A display filled with both pictorial and audiovisual images, which seek to bring us closer, from creation, to the spirit of the times in which we live. Doing so based on a poem by Federico García Lorca on which the very title of the exhibition is based. Seeking, precisely, these moments of elf, difficult to rationalize, in which we feel human and united beyond the difficult times we have experienced. The exhibition and everything that accompanies it seeks to move us, in unhinged times that create rifts between us and between us and the world.

Hope and fear are fundamental to reducing or widening political divisions. While fear entrenches polarization by amplifying threats and otherness, hope offers a path to mitigate divisions through shared aspirations and collaborative action. Addressing polarization requires strategies that reduce fear-based narratives and cultivate hope through empathy, dialogue, and the recognition of shared values.