Week 4

Jake Maize

Performing Empathy: What the Arts Can Offer Conflict Resolution

I think the take away from this reading is that compassion allows us to listen, as creators, observers, and/or participants. And if you're not listening, you're not collaborating. You're just making your own work. Particularly when your collaborators come from significantly different backgrounds and have a perspective that is different then your own.

Truthfully, I don't see my future self on the front lines of political activism on the street. But I was really struck by how much this reading spoke to me. Of course, I have my opinions and I'm quite passionate about politics, but the work that interests me is predominantly done inside a theater. Anyway, I'm fascinated by empathy between character and audience. The section "Catalyzing the Experience of Empathy" basically sums up why I'm a theatre artist. " Aesthetics can be seen as a strategy to move people to see something about themselves and the world they didn't see before, catalyzing and deepening an experience of empathy. Specific arts practices are available as resources for mediators to explore, adapt, and apply as catalysts of empathy within more traditional mediation practices."

Final Project:
My final project ideas are far from a place where I can make a decision. Last week I had a surprisingly mild conversation with someone with whom I do not share political views. It was actually the first time I had a conversation about differing political views with someone outside my family. Something he confided in me was that he felt that I and those who share my views were ignorant. And you know what? I think he's right. Perhaps not in the way he meant it, and with varying degrees. But I'm ignorant of his set of experiences and values. And I've seen enough people get shout down here at calarts to imagine the type of bravery it takes to voice an option that's outside the norms inside a predominantly liberal community. One interest is having a project that addresses this issue. Whether a platform for people to actually express their perspective or something that just points it out.

I'm also interested in possibly having a light sculpture that people walking by can shape the way they wish. Casual format but something that gives them control of an art form they may have not been exposed to before. Perhaps each sculpture could be photographed with a sentence that describes what the artist wanted to express.