Table of Contents

About the Contributors & Editor

Foreword |The Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi, President & CEO, The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT; Director, Ethics Initiative, MIT Media Lab

Preface | Elif M. Gokcigdem, Ph.D., Author of Fostering Empathy Through Museums & Founder, Empathy Building Through Museums Initiative

Introduction | Zorana Ivcevic, Ph.D., Research Scientist & Director, Creativity and Emotions Lab, Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence

Part I: The Object of Our Empathy

How Do We Perceive the “Other”?

The Heart | Dario Robleto, Artist and Citizen Scientist | The Heart’s Knowledge Will Never Decay

The Brain | Erik Jahner, Ph.D., Educational Neuroscientist, Brain and Creativity Institute, University of California, Riverside | Living Narratives: Neurobiology of Empathy

Conscious Experience | Riccardo Manzotti, Ph.D., Professor of Theoretical Philosophy and Ph.D. in Robotics, Institute of Human, Language and Environmental Sciences at University of Milan | Empathic Space and Shared Consciousness: Museums and the Application of the Spread Mind Theory

The Worldview | Sara Konrath, Ph.D. Interdisciplinary Program on Empathy and Altruism Research, Indiana University | Empathy, Narcissism, and Visual Arts Engagement

Augmented Reality | Amir Baradaran, ARtificial Artist & Isolde Brielmaier, Curator, Assistant Professor, Department of Photography, Imaging and Emerging Media, New York University | Augmenting Empathy and Decolonizing AR/VR Mediums: How Do We Reimagine Augmented and Virtual Reality Experiences

Part II: The Alchemy of Empathy

Ingredients of Transformative Perspective Change

Intentionality | Jonathan Carfagno, Executive Director, The Hickory Museum of Art | Thriving in a VUCA World: Creativity, Empathy, and Intentionality in the Art Museum

Intersectionality | Yolanda Moses, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology, Co-curator of “RACE: Are We So Different?”, University of California, Riverside & Joanne Jones-Rizzi, Vice President of STEM Equity and Education, Science Museum of Minnesota, Co-curator of “RACE: Are We So Different?” | Building Transformative Empathetic Experiences to Talk about “Race”

Curiosity | Thomas Rockwell, Director of Exhibition Design, Exploratorium; Josh Gutwill, Ph.D., Director of Visitor Research and Evaluation, Exploratorium; Heike Winterheld, Ph.D., Program Director of Social Sciences, Exploratorium; Shawn Lani, Senior Artist, Exploratorium | Social Inquiry Exhibits: Fostering Social Learning in Museums

Play | Lisa Brahms, Ph.D., Director of Learning and Research, Pittsburgh Children’s Museum; Anne Fullenkamp, Director of Design, Pittsburgh Children’s Museum

Vulnerability | Andreas Heinecke, Ph.D., Co-Founder, Dialogue Social Enterprise | From I to Thou: Transformation through Traumatic Events

Contemplation and Nuance | Mohamed Zakariya, Calligrapher | Found in Translation

Proximity | Seth Frankel, Creative Lead and Principal, Studio Tectonic | Designing for Place and People at the Border of Freedom: Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center

Storytelling | Anastasia Khoo, Chief Marketing Officer, Conservation International; Jamey, Anderson, Senior Writer, Conservation International; and, Conservation International |Empathy in Environmental Communications: WhyPeople Matter for Saving Nature

Synchronicity | Andrew Nemr, Tap Dance Artist and Co-Founder, Tap Legacy Foundation | Tap Dancing toward Empathic Communities

Awe & Wonder | Nicholas Bell, Senior Vice President of Curatorial Affairs, Mystic Seaport Museum | Designing for Wonder: Losing Your Self at the Museum

Collective Journeying | Ari Gordon, Ph.D., Islamic Studies and the History of Muslim-JewishRelations, University of Pennsylvania; Menachem Wecker, Journalist, Contributor to “Religion in Museums: Global and Multidisciplinary Perspectives” | Religious Pilgrimage and Sacred Relics as Empathy Builders

Breaking Bread | Reverend Jennifer Bailey; Lennon Flowers; Emily May, The People’s Supper | Breaking Bread and Building Bridges: Repairing Ruptures in Our Communities

Optimism & Hope | Catherine Christen, Ph.D., The Conservation Commons, and The Earth Optimism Initiative, Smithsonian Institution | Optimism to Action: One Smithsonian, the Conservation Commons, and the Earth Optimism Initiative

Part III: The Scope and the Spectrum of Empathy

Empathy as a Cross-Industrial Shared Value & Its Potential for People and the Planet

Ethics & Values | Elaine Heumann Gurian, Author, Museums Expert, and Thought Leader | Modeling Decency, Sir!

The Planet & the Environment | Emlyn Koster, Ph.D., Director, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences | The Anthropocene as Our Conscience

Education & Entrepreneurship | Dana Mekler, Global Empathy Initiative, Ashoka | Educating for Empathy: Global Lessons from Schools and Social Entrepreneurs

Innovation & Design | Kursat Ozenc, Design Strategist and Experience Designer at SAP Labs, Lecturer at d.School, Stanford | Designing Empathy into Machines: Lessons Learned from Designing Interactions for Autonomous Vehicles

Societal Progress | Karleen Gardner, Director of Learning and Innovation, Center for Empathy & Visual Arts, Minneapolis Institute of Art | Museums as Incubators of Innovation and Social Impact