Category: AUDIENCE

Anna Holmes: “Here’s how I see it: Empathy is the ability to respect and maybe even understand another’s point of view, revealing larger truths about ourselves and others. Exploitation is the use of another’s experience for personal gain.”
James Parker: “To the degree that you are using a person, a character, simply to propel your plot or give shape to your ideas, to that same degree you are denying this character his or her full reality – and your story will suffer accordingly. Where empathy stops, in other words, exploitation starts.”

“It’s only May, but the international architectural press has already highlighted the Harbin Opera House, designed by the bad-boy architect Ma Yansong, as one of the year’s most interesting new buildings. … While cultural (and financial) capital becomes ever more concentrated, the dream of creative rebirth can be a seductive Pied Piper for administrators of languishing cities. After all, if every reader of design websites knows where Harbin is, then a full-throated recovery can’t be far off, right?”

“An established artist in high demand will likely make a much bigger impact by canceling than a lesser-known artist would, so the payoff for the risk is much greater in terms of awareness. And an established artist has more leverage – both with the public and with administrators, agents, and venues – because he can draw on decades of goodwill.”

“From documentaries to spoken-word performances, from urban revitalization actions to conventional gallery shows, they serve diverse ends that include raising political awareness, assuaging grief, anticipating long-term educational needs, and encouraging the resumption, as much as possible, of everyday life. Because normalcy, even when it’s far from easy, is a way of coping with crisis.”