6: EMPATHY

People. Change. Museums.

In the final episode of People. Change. Museums., we take ‘empathy’ as our keyword. Last century psychologists determined that there are three variations of empathy: ‘somatic empathy’ – the physical reaction to someone else’s pain and suffering; ‘cognitive empathy – the capacity to understand another, to put yourself in their place; and ‘affective empathy’ – the ability to respond with an appropriate emotion to another’s mental state. Arguably: all of these variations of empathy are required within the museum setting, especially in a time of intersecting global crisis.

The voices that you will hear from in this episode - some new, some familiar - all reflect on the role of empathy in the work that they do and push at the boundaries of how we might understand it within museums. In considering this topic, Sophie is joined by Dr Lauren Vargas - Research Associate on 'One by One' and Digital Placemaker-Community Strategist (EU), Adrienne Lalli Hills - Associate Director at Studio School at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Centre (US), Corey Timpson - Museum Design and Accessibility Expert and formally Vice President, Exhibitions, Research, and Design at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CA), Kati Price - Head of Digital Media at the V&A, Dafydd James - Head of Digital and Strategic Projects Lead, National Museum Wales, Rob Cawston - Head of Digital Media at National Museums Scotland and John Stack - Digital Director at the Science Museum Group (UK).