Un. Magazine 15.2 (Metabolism)

As we re-emerge from a period of isolation, we are confronted by ongoing and intensifying crises that pose a threat to a collective vision of the future and reproduction (of the body, the environment, the social sphere). This issue of un takes metabolism as its theme. Metabolism refers to the process through which food and drink is transformed into energy. Metabolism names the material relation that links a body and its world. Bread, milk, fat, and water turn into blood, labour, desire, and breath. Metabolism always implies social reproduction; the activity of living requires the conditions of livelihood; energy requires sustenance; effort requires rest; and the working body depends on the body under care and in nourishment. The history of the wage relation and the structure of the working day have changed the way we eat, store fat, and go hungry.