Does Empathy Have Boundaries? – Exhibition

Does empathy have boundaries?
What is the relationship between empathy and space?
Where does empathy exist and where are the gaps?
What lives in the spaces in-between us?

The distance between us is always present but rarely acknowledged. The physical boundaries between us are visible and tangible, shaped by our environments. But do we recognise the other invisible and intangible boundaries that can divide us? The spaces in-between can be shaped not only by physical boundaries, but by emotional, mental, social, cultural, economic and ideological boundaries. How can we notice, understand and measure them?

“Does Empathy Have Boundaries?” will present outputs and materials from the first 3 months of The Campaign for Empathy, the world’s first community-centred campaign for empathy, which has been running in the London borough of Newham since March 2019. Led by London-based Finnish Empathy Artist and Designer Enni-Kukka Tuomala, the Campaign for Empathy has challenged local Newham residents to consider each others’ perspectives through a series of public events, in order to build a new collective culture of empathy and to begin bridging the distance between the diverse local community, and then in turn across London and the UK more widely.