I want to desexualize my body. I want a mane reaching down to my ass. A continuous shiny flow waving in the air. (Eating hair leaves a toxic taste in my mouth.) I want to face you even though I want to be left alone. I want my body to be flexible enough to do a split and I want to be able to ignore such nonsense. I want Tamara Aladin’s candleholder and a week without migraine.

(... my desire changes with the algorithm.)

My desire is passed on to you.

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Social philosopher Rahel Jaeggi writes that even though social roles can help you find and form yourself, you may also get lost in them. For a body stuck in a role, days turn in to distant loops where it may not recognize its desires as its own. According to social psychologist Devon Price, in a neuronormative environment, a neurodivergent body has to diminish its needs and desires. Constantly ignoring one’s own body especially in the hyperaccelerating and multimaterial time is alienating. The experience of alienation can be described as a process through which one loses touch with oneself and one’s body and which ultimately disconnects the body from the environment.

Alien Desire explores the experience of alienation in the desire-filled era and also desires in an alienated body. How desires are clingy, numbing and sticky, but also inviting, stimulating, and polishing. A desire imposed through normative environments can drive an individual further away from oneself. On the other hand, a curious desire can act as a driving force for change towards finding oneself and one’s community.