_Virtually_in_love_with_you_ is a project that explores the emotional and sexual relationship between humans and digital devices. To create a better future we need an empathic approach to our devices: they are our new friends, our new lovers, our new family. They are part of our emotional world, they shape our feelings, they create a different perception of love. These digital non-humans can be part of our body and sexual desires too: they can be our desired and loved ones. As in movie Her the digital devices are growing nearer to the human’s feelings, to our necessity to be loved and understood. Love between humans and non-humans are always been an utopian idea that created an entire world of desire: the videogame Loveplus+ create the opportunity to have a virtual girlfriend that you can bring with you wherever you go, somehow similar to the movie Her. In the manga Chobits the main character falls in love with a humanoid computer called Chii and many questions arise: did computer feel emotions? Are they capable of falling in love, communicate to each other, built they own world? There is an eternal –sexual and emotional- tension between humans and robot, apparently incapable of feelings, unlike humans. But other aspects comes from this tension: the feeling of affection, the friendship that can be built, the possible coalition. In creating this empathic approach we must start from our personal devices: our smartphones, our computers, our cameras and treat them as part of our emotional world. The coalition between us and our digital devices is necessary for creating a future more positive for us and for the planet. Digital is immaterial but not entirely. All the discarded components of devices create immense dumps around the world, generating pollution. Devices are objects, real actual objects that occupy a space in the world. Creating a strong emotional bond with our personal devices will reduce the problem and will enrich our life and relationship with non-humans. The magic of objects–that was destroyed by the capitalism and its necessity of buying all the time new things- will be present again in our days: our personal phone is not a common object, it is our phone, our friend and lover.

_Inspirations_

Her (2013, Spike Jonze)
Married to the Eiffel Tower (2008, Agnieszka Piotrowska)
Chobits (2000-2002, CLAMP)
Glitch Feminism (2020, Legacy Russell)
Staying with the trouble (2016, Donna Haraway)
Lonely Satellite (2009, Yura Yura Teikoku)
Disruptive Muzak (2016, Sam Kidel)
Level Five (1997, Chris Marker)
Loveplus+ (2009)
Tsukumogami (10th century, japanese folklore)