Who or what can we say we are "close to" in this year, when the term "distancing" has come to the fore on every continent? The first thing that comes to mind is the urgent need to forge closer ties, to re-establish or create new solidarities in the face of divisions of all kinds, and the ideas and tools needed to do so, as a counterweight to the dissolution of ties and individualist or nationalist withdrawal. But this requirement must be accompanied by a reflection on the very idea of distance, on its perceptive, cognitive and mathematical foundations, and on its extraordinary use, both theoretical and practical, in the multiplication of maps that cover our world, tracing its borders and limits but also enabling us to model it, understand it and act on it. Finally, we need to know whether there is a "right distance", a point of view that is neither too far nor too close, from which we can better understand, appreciate and love ourselves, others, objects and the world's cultures This question also applies to researchers, journalists, cultural mediators, and all those whose job it is to create mediation, to build links for a common world where differences are articulated rather than opposed.
