The human cell nucleus contains roughly two meters of DNA, packed together with proteins that can form biomolecular condensates with different functions such as RNA transcription. In this talk, I will present recent data and theory that active transcription of RNA, a key regulator of condensate formation and dissolution, controls condensate patterning in the nucleolus. Applying this model to transcriptional condensates, and accounting for time delays due to promoter-proximal pausing, leads to spatial oscillations consistent with a “kiss-and-kick” model of interactions between enhancer-bound condensates and promoters. Finally, I will pivot towards condensates in fluctuating viscoelastic fluids and show that coherent motion within a fluid domain will cause pairs of condensates to attract via capillary forces due to induced polarization, providing a potential route for chemically specific coalescence driven by mechanical agitation.