Roman Krznaric: Empathy, Art & the Revolution of Human Relationships

Drawing on his best-seller Empathy: Why it Matters, and How to Get It, Roman Krznaric reveals how empathy cannot only enrich personal life but also helps create social change. Empathy, he argues, has the power to transform personal and political relationships. Krznaric explores how culture helps us expand our empathic imaginations, focusing on ancient Greek theater and Renaissance painting to the history of cinema and participatory artworks such as the Empathy Museum. He explores empathy through the lens of neuroscience and industrial design, and its role in eroding conflicts in the Middle East and beyond. Book signing to follow.

This talk is part of the ongoing work of Mia’s Center for Empathy and the Visual Arts.

Roman Krznaric is a social philosopher whose books, including Empathy, How Should We Live?, Carpe Diem, and How to Find Fulfilling Work, have been published in more than 20 languages. He is the founder of the world’s first Empathy Museum and of the digital Empathy Library, and was also a founding faculty member of the global emotional intelligence organization the School of Life. He is currently a research fellow of the Long Now Foundation in San Francisco, and a research associate at the Design Against Crime Research Centre at Central Saint Martins college of art and design in London.

This lecture is sponsored by the Mark and Mary Goff Fiterman Lecture Fund

Major support for the Center for Empathy and the Visual Arts at Mia provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Free, tickets required; tickets available September 14.