The Empathy Experiment

The Empathy Experiment is a wearable site-specific installation that enables participants to temporarily inhabit the lives of other people. The project consists of a simple set of four handmade ponchos, which are identical except for the fabric: burlap, wool, glitter mesh, and a synthetic microfiber. The ponchos hang on a rack or are draped on chairs as during an event. People are free to wear them for as long as they like. The Empathy Experiment was installed at the ArtFields Festival in South Carolina, inside a large exhibition hall featuring over 50 artists, but it can be staged anywhere that is accessible to the public. Each fabric suggests a different kind of labor. Fragments of stories or trinkets can be placed inside the pockets to create a specific connection to the specific event or venue. Wearing the ponchos is an empathic gesture. The viewer is concealing their own clothes to wrap themselves in the life of an imagined stranger.

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