'E-pathy City' is an experiment that sets out to explore the interrelation between empathy, art, green issues and the elderly.

We organised a series of workshops in Oi! and in its vicinity since July 2015 to look into the overarching concept of 'E-pathy City', a utopian state of social imagination where mutual understanding and genuine communication between different social groups, are facilitated by the vicarious experience of one another's feelings. Participants were challenged to reflect on and search for the ideal intra-city relations, favourable social conditions and available resources that could serve in the construction and incubation of an empathy city. The experiment thus aimed to exercise our 'empathy muscle', extend our imagination and sense of affiliation and build our capacity to empathise.

The project unfolded in three phases: 1. Introduction and Interaction, 2. Intervention and Interflow, 3. Integration and Innovation.

1. Introduction and Interaction
Discussion and interaction were conducted in the workshops, which enabled artists, scholars and participants to explore and experiment the concept of ‘Empathy'. Participants were challenged to use their own language to construct the theoretical framework of the ‘Empathy' concept, and express their version of ‘Empathy' with the materials collected beyond Oi!. Collaboration works were then exhibited in Oi!.

2.Intervention and Interflow
‘No man is an island': whether we are aware of it or not, our exchanges with other people in our everyday lives are formed by incidences of intervention and interflow, both of which lead to a synthesis of experiences and consciousness, the former by unexpected or coercive disruptions, the latter by conscious exchanges and wilful interaction. Following this line of thought, artists explored with us the various modes of consciousness that mixed together to lay an important foundation for an empathy city.

3. Integration and Innovation
In the 3rd phase, exhibition, event and seminar were organised to share the results and artworks of the year round workshops and activities, demonstrated the practice of interrelation of Empathy, Art, Green issue and Elderly.

Organised by: Oi!, The Urban Place Research Unit of the School of Architecture, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Date: 7.2015 — 8.2016

Download Here:
E-pathy City_leaflet.pdf (5.46 MB)