At a time when the thermometer is climbs ever higher, when climate disasters are becoming increasingly frequent, where the rise of Western nationalism and wars raging on our doorsteps are accompanied by the cries of desperation. Abortion rights and gender transitions face impending doom, and the destructive capacity of the imperialist powers can be worldwide in Palestine, Sudan, Congo, Kanaky, and China. We are living in a time when the United Nations is denounces crimes against humanity committed in Gaza as “extermination, murder, gendered targeting of men and boys, forced displacement, torture, cruel and inhumane treatment”. At a time when the notion of closed European borders closing has stopped shocking us. The borders between humans. The borders between us… Indeed, not only does the present looks bleak, but it looks downright terrifying.

But fear often leads to paralysis, to astonishment, to sedation and the situation is dire. Understanding what kind of future we want is imperative to this fight. We need to find the strength to act, and we need to collaborate in imagining a future that goes beyond the cacophony of the present. Contemporary politics in mind, what kind of future do we want to design? How do the identity politics of the present map onto or take control of our bodies and expression? How can alternate futures be narrated? How might we work towards a utopia?