EMPACT | Empathy & Sustainability: The Art of Thinking Like a Mountain is an exciting 24-month project, co-funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe programme, which is expected to be completed in 2024.
Ever since Aristotle, the arts have been associated with the arousal of empathic responses towards the suffering of others and, consequently, with the development of a compassionate stance. In what ways can engagement with works of art affect people in emotional ways so as to become more compassionate towards nature and non-human beings and thus affected in morally positive ways?
The EMPACT project adopts an innovative approach in advocating for climate crisis, based on the idea that the concept of empathy can shed new light on how we understand and embody sustainability in the arts. The project lies on two interconnected pillars: (i) the facilitation of artists to produce, through sustainable practices, art that fosters an empathic stance towards non-human beings and nature, and thus effectively incorporate the concept of sustainability in their artistic production; (ii) the necessity for artists and cultural workers to become themselves empathic and resilient individuals in order to deal with the post-pandemic social and economic crisis.
Key role players, including, artists, sustainability experts, philosophers and social scientists will engage in effective dialogue to explore the importance of empathy as a central means to encourage individual sustainability orientations and broader environmental sustainability, with the ultimate action of tackling climate change.
From this, EMPACT will deliver a holistic, well-designed, series of activities and tools that will provide artists and cultural players with the knowledge and tools to address complex scientific and social conflicts generated by climate change, namely:
EMPACT is led by the Cyprus University of Technology and scientifically coordinated by Assistant Professors Efi Kyprianidou and Yannis Christidis (Department of Fine Arts). The above measures will be implemented with the collaboration of seven European partners – Cyprus University of Technology (Ciper), Fondazione Lamberto Puggelli (Italija), Espacio Rojo (Španija), National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts (Bolgarija), Nature, Art & Habitat (Italija), Vorres Museum (Grčija) and UGM | Maribor Art Gallery (Slovenia) – offering diverse experiences and know-how, which represent a broad, balanced, and targeted geographical area.
The EMPACT project is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.