ARTEFACT 2021: WIRED FOR EMPATHY

Artefact is an exhibition and festival on the crossroads of contemporary visual arts, current events and societal challenges.

Recent developments in biology and neurosciences agree: We, as human beings, are exceptionally well equipped to walk through life as empathic beings. Yet, increasingly it is said we find ourselves in an empathy crisis; a widespread lack of empathy in our society.

Through the artworks of +/- 20 international artists, Wired for Empathy explores the contemporary role and meaning of empathy: How can we understand empathy today? Who asks empathy from whom and what does that say about contemporary power relations? Which evolutions within society strengthen or undermine our capacity for empathy? How can we relearn/train empathetic strategies and behaviors? And is the concept of empathy limited to human relations, or can we expand the notion to involve relations to other living creatures?
The artists and their works in this exhibition address and challenge you to understand the other’s perspective and share their emotions. Deploying different artistic strategies; from language and visuals to the creation of participatory or immersive situations, they, in their own way, speak about care, action for kindness, and the mending of the social fabric.

With work by a.o. Anouk De Clercq, Khaled Barakeh, Helen Cammock, Daria Martin, Claudia Fontes, Charline Tyberghein, Elliott Erwitt, Tom Callemin, Ben Thorp Brown, Eva Koťátková, Suzanne Lacy, Alexandra Leyre Mein, Francesca Grilli, Ugo Rondinone and Peter Aers.

Artefact involves more than a contemporary art exhibition. An extensive sound and festival programme with concerts, movies, performance, podcasts, lectures, workshops and an exciting audio walk through the streets of Leuven sheds different lights on the theme. All information about the Artefact programme can be found at artefact-festival.be.

WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE FLEMISH GOVERNMENT, THE CITY OF LEUVEN AND KU LEUVEN (ART & SCIENCE).