Performing Empathy: What Artistic Sensibility Brings to Conflict Resolution

1

Performing
Empathy:
What
the
Arts
Can
offer
Conflict
Resolution

Dorit
Cypis,
Susan
Oetgen,
Eva
Vander
Giessen

Only
someone
who
is
ready
for
everything,
who
doesn't
exclude
any
experience,
even
the

most
incomprehensible,
will
live
the
relationship
with
another
person
as
something
alive

and
will
(her)
self
sound
the
depths
of
(her)
own
being.
–
Rainer
Maria
Rilke

The
arts
can
channel
the
human
impulse
to
make
meaning
of
the
world
through
a
variety
of

aesthetic
processes
that
result
in
relational
and
communicative
acts
between
people.
Shared

meaning
generates
empathy
that
‘mediates’
–
moves
between
–
our
human
differences
in
the

world
we
co-‐inhabit.

To
the
extent
that
art
can
generate
empathy,
and
empathy
can
bridge
the

differences
between
us,
art
is
implicitly
‘mediative.’
Some
artists
more
specifically
use
the

relational
qualities
of
their
art
practice
to
mediate
conflict,
to
transform
an
audience’s
belief
and

behavior
by
raising
awareness
and
capacity
to
emotionally
identify
with
others,
or
by
engaging

people
in
a
participatory
process
that
invites
them
to
experience
themselves
within
a
conflict
and

co-‐imagine
ways
to
engage
and
transform
it.
*
As
artists
and
mediators
we
know
that
the
arts
can

offer
techniques
and
methodologies
that
can
be
creatively
adapted
to
the
needs
and
contexts
of

traditional
mediation.

A
Closer
Look
at
Empathy,
Art
and
Mediation

Difference
can
be
incomprehensible
to
us,
fueling
mistrust
that
can
deter
us
from
engagement.

Recognizing
and
negotiating
personal
and
cultural
difference
is
dependent
on
empathy
between

people.
More
than
feeling
for
another,
empathy
requires
us
to
reach
deep
within
ourselves
and

attend
to
our
own
inner
responses
in
order
to
better
recognize
another’s
difference.
Empathy
in

this
sense
is
core
to
the
transformational
process
of
mediation.

Being
open
to
others’
responses,
while
recognizing
our
own
requires,
as
the
cultural
philosopher

Roland
Barthes
wrote,
being
“twice
present”1,
as
subject/participant
and
as
witness
-‐
remaining

open
to
our
bodily
experience
AND
thoughtfully
to
being
present
in
our
mind.
Both
sensorial
and

cognitive
awareness
are
critical
to
a
mediator
yet
in
the
teaching
and
application
of
mediation

strategies
there
is
often
an
imbalance
of
attention
given
to
cognitive
and
sensorial
capacity.
How

might
our
field
expand
if
we
employed
tools
from
arts-‐based
practices
rich
in
perceptual,
sensorial

and
cognitive
strategies,
which
can
guide
mediators
to
be
“twice
present”?
Focusing
our
inquiry
on

how
arts-‐based
modalities
can
be
applied
to
mediation,
our
goals
in
this
article
include:

1:
Build
our
capacity
to
identify,
describe
and
cultivate
perceptual
and
bias
awareness

2:
Catalyze
and
deepen
experience
of
empathy
in
mediation

3:
Further
Discussion:
What
is
left
unsaid?

Part
One:
Building
our
capacity
to
identify,
describe
and
cultivate
perceptual
and
bias
awareness.

On
the
penthouse
floor
of
the
MGM
building,
Century
City,
Los
Angeles,
we
met
in
a
large

conference
room
of
a
well-‐known
law
office
at
the
end
of
a
typical
workday.
Jeff
Kichaven,
a

colleague
mediator/lawyer
who
taught
legal
process
at
Pepperdine’s
Straus
Institute
for

Dispute
Resolution
had
invited
me
to
make
a
presentation
on
what
the
arts
have
to
offer

2

lawyers
and
mediators.
As
an
artist
with
a
history
of
working
with
space
sculpturally
and

aesthetically
I
knew
well
how
our
immediate
environment
shapes
our
perception
of
self
and

our
relations
with
one
another.
My
experience
as
a
mediator
had
significantly
been

enhanced
by
my
perceptual
skills
as
an
artist
and
an
educator
of
art.
I
was
invited
to

communicate
these
skills.

I
had
come
by
earlier
to
familiarize
myself
with
the
room
-‐
architecture,
furniture,
lighting

and
multi-‐media
capacities.
Although
the
room’s
dominant
quality
was
the
oversized
shiny-‐
coated
table
with
its
parameter
pushing
the
room
edges,
the
room’s
technologically

oriented
aspects
easily
turned
the
table
and
the
occupants
seated
around
it
into
theatrical

characters.
I
discovered
that
at
the
push
of
any
of
various
wall
buttons
I
could
make
spot

lights
beam
and
dim
-‐
flood
lights
bathe
and
shadow
areas
of
the
room
–
curtains
draw

closed
across
the
large
glass
4th

wall
to
the
outer
office
lobby
to
privatize
the
room
–

curtains
draw
open
to
reveal
room
content
to
passers
by
–
scrims
lower
over
the
floor
to

ceiling
windows
to
shield
the
room
from
the
sun
–
scrims
rise
to
expose
the
incredible

landscape
of
Los
Angeles
20
floors
below
–
wall
cupboard
doors
open
to
projection
screens

that
hum
electronically
as
they
lower
to
the
floor
and
rise
back
to
the
ceiling
–
video
flat

screens
turn
on
and
off
–
and
occupied
seats
swivel
in
360
degree
directions.

Sixty
people
showed
up.
They
sat
facing
one
another
around
the
conference
table
waiting

to,
as
usual,
conference.
For
the
first
twenty
minutes
of
my
presentation
on
aesthetic

strategies
I
‘played’
the
room
to
orchestrate
its
shifting
potential
and
to
alert
the

participants
to
their
shifting
experiences.
They
were
mesmerized
by
the
infinite
variations
of

a
room
they
previously
had
taken
for
granted
over
hundreds
of
conference
hours
with

hundreds
of
clients.
For
twenty
minutes
they
were
released
from
hierarchical
social
identity

and
permitted
to
experience
sensation,
together.
This
was
aesthetic
lesson
number
one:
we

are
framed
and
conditioned
by
the
environment
we
are
in
–
made
distant
and
made

intimate,
in
sensorial
absence
or
presence
to
one
another.
Recognizing
our
experience
of

where
we
are
means
something.

–
Dorit
Cypis

One
simple
dictionary
definition
of
‘aesthetics’
is
‘the
branch
of
philosophy
that
deals
with
the

principles
of
beauty’.
Artists
respond
to
their
inner
life
and
their
outer
world
through
the
screen
of

aesthetics,
understanding
that
the
term
‘beauty’
depends
on
multiple
factors
of
past
and

immediate
context,
intention,
form,
content
and
function.

Aesthetics
as
a
way
to
study
and

express
permutations
of
inner
and
outer
life
adds
subtle
power
to
our
understanding
of
humanity.

Somewhere
beyond
justifiable
rights
and
overwhelming
wrongs
is
the
ability
of
art
to
evoke

contradiction
and
uncertainty,
while
setting
the
stage
for
vision,
intimacy
and
passion.
The
arts

remind
us
of
our
utter
humanity,
vulnerable
yet
strong,
poor
yet
wealthy.

In
order
to
develop
and
hone
an
aesthetic
sensibility,
artists
are
trained
in
skills
of
personal
and

cultural
perception
to
recognize
sensory
and
cognitive
experience,
including
cultural
contexts
and

our
internalized
assumptions,
beliefs
and
bias.

What
can
perceptual
and
bias
awareness
training

involve
for
mediators?
How
do
we
decode
our
perceptual
frames
to
make
more
informed
choices?

As
founder
of
Foreign
Exchanges/artistic
methods
for
conflict
transformation,
I
have
adapted

aesthetic
tools
I
originally
developed
as
a
teacher
at
arts
academies
nationally
over
the
past
three

decades,
to
serve
me
as
a
mediator
and
trainer.

Dorit
Cypis,
www.foreignexchanges.net

3

The
Seeing
Triangle

The
Seeing
Triangle
unpacks
three
interdependent
aspects
of
seeing
to
assist
us
in
understanding

the
uniqueness
of
our
individual
sight
–
to
more
fully
recognize
that
seeing
is
about
who
is
seeing

as
much
as
what
is
seen.

We
often
take
for
granted
the
experience
of
seeing,
assuming
that
what
we
see
is
a
self-‐evident

truth.
Seeing
however
is
a
complex
phenomenon
that
is
simultaneously
physical,
perceptual
and

experiential.
Our
deeply
held
cultural
beliefs
and
our
personal
experiences
are
often
evident
in
our

assumptions
about
how
we
are
seeing.

Consciously
and
unconsciously
seeing
simultaneously
includes:

1.
FORMAL
SIGHT
-‐
qualities
of
mass,
shape,
color,
texture

2.
PERCEPTUAL
SIGHT
-‐
judgment,
beliefs,
assumptions,
comparison

3.
EXPERIENTIAL
SIGHT
–
subjective
qualities
of
emotion,
sensation,
pain,
pleasure.

Upon
seeing
a
chair
a
person
may
tend
to
primarily
see
through
a
perceptual
frame
of

prejudgment,
i.e.
I
hate
that
blue
chair.
Underneath
this
“seeing”
frame
there
may
be
a
repressed

memory,
an
emotion
and
a
sensation,
i.e.
the
blue
chair
reminds
me
of
a
chair
I
fell
off
of
at
age
5.

This
past
experience
remembered
by
the
body
as
pain,
if
not
recognized,
will
continue
to
shift
how

she
sees
all
blue
chairs.
Is
she
seeing
the
chair
before
her,
or
is
she
seeing
her
past
experience

mirrored
in
this
chair,
her
bias?

Recognizing
the
complexity
of
“how”
we
see
informs
us
more
subtly
of
our
tendencies,
bias
and

prejudice.
Substitute
person
or
place
or
situation
for
the
chair
and
you
can
see
how

bias
can
shut
down
engagement.
Self-‐knowledge
is
an
important
process
towards
recognition

of
our
particularities
and
the
differences
of
others,
opening
new
paths
for
understanding
and

generative
engagement.

4

Part
Two:
Catalyze
and
deepen
experience
of
empathy
in
conflict
transformation
practices

The
arts
engage
the
mind
and
body
as
interdependent,
speaking
to
our
thinking
minds
and
to
our

body’s
ability
to
experience
sensorially
and
emotionally.
We
hold
emotion,
memory,
pain
and
joy,

thought,
dream
and
desire
in
our
body/mind.
We
each
are
repository
of
history
as
our
lived

experience,
physically,
mentally
and
emotionally.
When
we
reflect
on
our
experience
through

aesthetic
expression
–
form,
mass,
movement,
sound,
visuality
or
language
–
we
are
stimulated
to

revisit
the
repository
of
our
history
and
to
expand
into
new
experience
that
goes
beyond
our

history
to
the
history
of
others.
We
are
open
to
feeling,
thinking,
imagining
from
our
self
outwards.

In
the
process
of
expression
we
recognize
our
self,
an
essential
foundation
to
feel
and
recognize

the
experience
of
another.
Aesthetics
is
a
way
to
build
empathy.

In
this
light,
aesthetics
could
be
seen
as
a
strategy
to
move
others
to
see
something
about

themselves
or
the
world
that
they
didn’t
see
before,
and
the
practice
of
art
could
be
viewed
as

inherently
‘mediative’
–
in
that
it
catalyzes
and
deepens
our
experience
of
empathy
–
even
if
the

mediative
intent
of
the
artist
and
the
purpose
of
the
artwork
or
creative
process
is
implicit
rather

than
explicit.

Specific
arts
practices,
then,
are
available
as
resources
for
mediators
to
examine,

adapt
and
apply
as
catalysts
of
empathy
within
traditional
mediation
practice.

Case
Study
1:
Susan
Oetgen
on
Fieldwork

Fieldwork,
a
program
offered
by
The
Field,
a
NYC-‐based
non-‐profit,
is
dedicated
to
the
creative
and

professional
development
of
performing
artists
(www.thefield.org).
Each
session
features
the

presentation
of
works-‐in-‐progress
‘showings’,
followed
by
a
‘feedback
circle’
in
which
the
artist

presenting
work
receives
feedback
from
other
artists
present.
Participants
offer
one
another

incisive
and
stimulating
critique
by
restricting
their
feedback
to
direct
observations
rather
than

directorial
suggestions.

In
doing
so,
they
support
the
integrity
and
intentionality
of
each
other’s

creative
agency.

As
a
practice
of
observing
and
speaking
about
what
an
art
work
simply
is,
rather

than
what
one
thinks
it
should
be,
Fieldwork
strengthens
one’s
ability
to
give
and
receive
honest

critical
commentary.

According
to
Diane
Vivona,
a
Fieldwork
facilitator
and
former
Executive
Director
of
The
Field,

“…Fieldwork
is
like
a
guideline
to
living.

It
is
all
about
communication
and
listening
to
people
and

being
very
specific
about
things...”
Fieldwork
is
first
and
foremost
a
creative
process,
but
an

implicit,
secondary
outcome
is
that
workshop
participants
relate
to
each
other
with
empathy
as
a

result
of
the
trust
that
is
built
up
in
the
process.

The
Fieldwork
methodology
could
be
adapted
as
a

follow-‐up
component
to
role-‐play
training
to
serve
mediators
in
training,
or
for
advanced

mediators
who
wish
to
meet
together
in
a
practice
group.

What
features
of
Fieldwork
are
salient

for
mediators
seeking
to
catalyze
and
deepen
empathy
within
their
work?

Giving
incisive
but
non-‐directorial
feedback
after
a
role-‐play
training
session
could
help
mediators

uncover
their
own
unconscious
habits
of
perception
and
bias,
and
practice
using
language
that

aims
for
directness
and
honesty
while
supporting
the
integrity,
intentionality
and
agency
of
others.

Receiving
honest,
keen,
non-‐directorial
feedback
about
performance
in
a
role-‐play
training
session

–
and
not
responding
to
it
in
the
moment
–
could
help
mediators
attend
to
their
own
sensorial
and

cognitive
experience
of
vulnerability
and
stay
present
to
the
discomfort
that
vulnerability
elicits.

5

Case
Study
2
-‐
Dorit
Cypis
on
“Open
Spiral
Animation”

Within
my
art
practice,
1983-‐1995,
I
developed
a
strategy
I
named
“Open
Spiral
Animation”

bridging
live
performance,
cinema
and
photography,
tapping
into
how
we
unconsciously

“represent”
our
experiences
through
pictures
culled
from
personal
experience
that
become

internalized
within
us.
I
came
to
recognize
this
process
as
a
powerful
shortcut
to
evoke
empathy
for

ourselves
that
can
nurture
our
capacity
to
empathize
with
others.
Over
the
years
not
only
have
I

used
this
process
to
create
performative
artworks
for
exhibition
internationally
at
museums
and
art

spaces,
but
also
as
a
teaching
tool
to
develop
insight
and
empathy
for
artists,
psychotherapists,
and

educators
throughout
the
United
States
and
Europe.
This
tool
has
shed
light
for
many
people
on

liminal
aspects
of
identity,
how
aspects
of
memory,
emotion,
family
and
history
are
internalized

seemingly
dormant
and
even
forgotten,
yet
invisibly
active
in
the
psyche,
silently
shaping
behavior.

Open
Spiral
Animation
is
a
mediative
process
that
can
inform
and
reveal
how
conflict
that
is

between
people
is
also
within
people.

Psycho-‐Portraits,
1991-‐1995
is
a
photographic
project
I
created
using
Open
Spiral
Animation.

Participants
are
invited
to
bring
photographs
they
find
compelling
(either
through
an
attraction
or
a

repulsion)
from
his/her
autobiography
and
from
the
public
domain.
Individual
photos
are
projected

from
one
of
three
projectors
to
superimpose
over
one
another
and
onto
a
floor
to
ceiling
cinema

screen.
As
projected
overlapping
light,
the
individual
images
are
obscured
until
the

participant/viewer
moves
their
body
between
the
projectors
and
the
screen.
Doing
so
casts
her/his

body
as
shadows
that
conceal
parts
of
some
projected
images
while
revealing
parts
of
others.
On

the
screen,
the
once
static
and
passive
images
now
are
fluidly
active
and
in
their
inter-‐mutation

suggest
emotional
narratives.
In
this
way
the
viewer
becomes
an
actor
viscerally
entering
into
an

empathic
psychophysical
relationship
with
their
images.
Almost
immediately
the
viewer/actor

resonates
with
emotion,
recognizing
an
internalized
experience
coming
to
light.

Malka,
revealing
in
her
shadow
herself
as
child,
now
embedded
in
the
classic
photograph

The
Living
Dead
of
Buchenvald,
by
Margaret
Burke
White,
1945

6

Robert,
revealing
in
his
shadow
the
renowned
opera
singer
Jesse
Norman,

now
embedded
within
him
as
a
child.

Greg,
revealing
in
his
shadow
a
wizard
from
the
cover
of
a
Parental
Advisory
music
CD,

now
obscuring
him
as
a
child.

7

Case
Study
3
-‐
Eva
Vander
Giessen
on
Playback
Theatre

Playback
Theatre,
founded
in
1975
by
Jonathan
Fox
and
Jo
Salas,
is
empathy
embodied.
In
Playback

participants
share
an
important
story
from
their
life,
which
an
ensemble
of
actors
then

spontaneously
bring
to
life
through
words,
movement
and
music.
The
story
is
mirrored
back
to
the

teller
evoking
an
empathic
response
often
deeper
than
a
conversation
about
the
story
might
elicit.

Playback
happens
in
school
classrooms,
church
basements,
hospital
hallways,
conference
rooms,

and
police
stations.

True
Story
Theater
in
Boston
in
2013,
photo
by
Jason
Jedrusiak

As
Charles
Villa-‐Cicencio
writes,
“reconciliation
is
not
a
sudden
act
of
moral
insight.
It
is
a

relationship
that
places
dialogue
and
reciprocity
at
the
center
of
the
struggle
to
be
fully
human,

suggesting
that
people
are
incomplete
to
the
extent
that
they
are
alienated
from
one
another.”

[“The
Art
of
Reconciliation.”
Life
&
Peace
Institute.
2002]
Playback
builds
a
bridge
between
people

by
re-‐humanizing
those
involved
in
conflict,
giving
dignity
to
our
internal
struggles,
and
accessing

the
richness
of
our
sensorial
experience
through
evocative
performance.
Playback
strengthens
the

elicitive
approach
of
mediation
by
coaxing
out
the
unspoken
narratives
that
underpin
conflict.

Playback
builds
sensorial
empathy
for
the
shared
grief,
longing,
fear
and
hope
between
people,
an

essential
tool
in
humanizing
people
in
conflict.

Many
mediators
use
techniques
to
draw
out
personal
stories,
as
in
Narrative
Mediation,
which

looks
for
patterns
of
repetition
in
a
party’s
story
and
guides
a
shift
of
the
story
to
one
of
non-‐
victimhood.
What
is
different
about
Playback
is
a
sensorial
understanding
of
the
story
–
and
the

recognition
of
the
story
“as
a
living,
fomenting
ingredient
within
the
conflict
rather
than
a
simple

account
of
the
conflict,”
(Linda
M.
Park-‐Fuller,
PhD,
Beyond
Role
Play:
Playback
Theatre
and

Conflict
Transformation,”
Centre
for
Playback
Theatre.
2005).
Witnessing
a
story
“played
back”
with

all
the
artistic
components
of
metaphor,
sound
and
movement
deepens
our
sensorial

understanding
of
the
teller
–
and
reveals
our
own
and
others’
perceptions
and
resulting
aesthetics

in
visceral
“ah-‐ha”
moments.
Playback
ignites
both
the
sensorial
and
cognitive
aspects
of
empathy

by
inviting
audience
members
to
reflect
on
common
themes
and
their
own
responses
after

witnessing
a
story,
then
playing
back
these
personal
insights.
Building
on
Narrative
Mediation,

Playback
allows
us
to
create
a
mutually
positive
narrative
that
does
not
exclude
conflict,
rather

places
conflict
within
the
context
of
a
humanizing
relationship.

Playback
is
now
used
in
50
countries
for
conflict
transformation,
community
building,
and
social

change.
The
Centre
for
Playback
Theatre
offers
is
an
international
training
and
research
resource,

and
Playback
North
America
connects
practitioners
and
allies
across
the
continent.

Visit
playbacknet.org
(International)
or
playbacknorthamerica.net
(North
America).

8

Part
Three:
Further
Discussion:
What
is
left
unsaid?

In
closing,
we
return
to
a
question
rather
than
to
answers.
How
might
our
field
expand
if
we

employed
tools
from
arts-‐based
practices
rich
in
perceptual,
sensorial
and
cognitive
strategies,

which
can
guide
mediators
to
be
“twice
present”?
Drawing
from
our
case
studies,
and
the
mentors

and
peers
who
have
inspired
our
use
of
empathy,
we
offer
the
following
guiding
principles
to

cultivate
perceptual
and
bias
awareness
and
deepen
an
experience
of
empathy
in
conflict

transformation:

• Listen
for
connecting
threads
/
active
listening
/
‘narrative
listening’

• Mind/body
are
inherently
connected

• Sensorial
experience
informs
cognitive
reflection

• Recognize
your
internal
patterns
and
bias

• Equal
attention
to
form
as
to
content

• Patience
/
understand
that
things
take
time

We
will
begin
a
comment
thread
and
ask
for
those
inspired
to
post
their
own
reflections
on
this

theme.
Finally,
we
offer
one
question:
What
is
one
risk
you
could
take
in
your
practice
to
cultivate

awareness
and
deepen
empathy?

*
More
information
on
this
topic:

Leaving
the
Movie
Theater,
Roland
Barthes

http://www.scribd.com/doc/105717490/Leaving-‐the-‐Movie-‐Theater-‐Barthes

On
Love,
Empathy,
and
Pleasure
in
the
Age
of
Neoliberalism

http://thefeministwire.com/2013/07/on-‐love-‐empathy-‐and-‐pleasure-‐in-‐the-‐age-‐of-‐neoliberalism/

Borderlands,
Poland

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jii/4750978.0016.207?rgn=main;view=fulltext

Playback
Theater

playbacknorthamerica.net
(North
America)

playbacknet.org
(International).

The
American
Slavery
Project

http://www.americanslaveryproject.org/#!page2/cjg9

Ping
Chong

http://www.pingchong.org/undesirable-‐elements/

Exit12

http://www.exit12danceco.com/about.html

Los
Angeles
Poverty
Department

www.lapovertydept.org/about-‐lapd/index.php

Lygia
Clark

www.csus.edu/indiv/o/obriene/art111/readings/InSearchoftheBody.pdf

Performing Empathy: What Artistic Sensibility Brings to Conflict Resolution

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