A way to understand what is happening:
We are connected, in theory, yet still, we cannot create, usually, a sincere connection, forgetting that the only nature that is the most difficult to take away from us (to be robbed of) is, the other [human]. We do not perceive the individuals as a human anymore, but as a fact, an object or a pseudo-medical situation. Regardless of the time and space, the empathy is somehow, lost.
The importance of this Apparatus, a performative, immersive installation stands in the coming into existence of situations that are experienced by the participants in a confined, limitative space.
Each person experiencing this performative installation is alone, with his/her own thoughts, detached from the situation that they are observing, yet at the same time extremely close.
Every situation to be experienced has in its meanings a variety of possible understandings being able to be interpreted differently by each individual.
The Emphatic Apparatus is an endurance performance lasting for approximately 10 hours, grasping grave reality of the moments presented. The participants only catch a glimpse of the whole performance, through a peep-hole, as a metaphor of the day-to-day circumstances of isolation, exclusion and awkwardness. As an allusion to the fact that, after finding about a somber matter one will not usually observe it too much, or take action towards it and one is usually in the comfort of one’s own little box.
The participants are out of time and space and they are being exposed to intense emotions coming from their exterior as well as from their interior.
Thought stream:
empathy
[em-puh-thee]
Synonyms:
Affinity, appreciation, insight, pity, warmth, communion, comprehension, responsiveness, being on the same wavelength, being there for someone, community of interests, cottoning to, good vibrations.
Examples:
Word Origin
noun
1.
the psychological identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.
2.
the imaginative ascribing to an object, as a natural object or work of art, feelings or attitudes present in oneself:
By means of empathy, a great painting becomes a mirror of the self.
Origin of empathy:
1900-1905
Greek empátheia affection, equivalent to em- em-2+ path-(base of páschein to suffer) + -eia -ia; present meaning translates German Einfühlung
Can be confused
Empathy – sympathy
“Never has the world seemed so completely united – in the form of communication, commerce, and culture; and so savagely torn apart-in the form of war, financial meltdown, global warming, and even the migration of diseases”. The Emphatic Civilisations, Jeremy Rifkin
The more we are connected, side by side, yet still, we cannot create, usually, a sincere connection, forgetting that the only nature that is the most difficult to take away from us (to be robbed of) is, the other [human], the less we realise our ridiculousness when we are only projecting ourselves unilaterally, onto the others. We have left behind the initial idea of belonging, or projection for that matter and we have brought ourselves together, by tearing ourselves apart in the goo of superficiality.
We handle ourselves in defences with what we have on hand, becoming irrational, too emotional when it is not needed and cold as the vacuum of plastic, because in this case even stones react in breaking and showing the same shimmery inside, portraying a feeling, when, we should, show a soft emotion.
We came to a point [repetition] in which we interact with the appearances and not with the realness.
For the lovers.
Sometimes, when I am at parties, instead of being there, I like to imagine myself in a garden, covering myself with soil and pretending I am a radish. In the garden I am with other radishes.
The box:
Why the boxes as crates –
They are a representation of something that is man-made. It is not a cof n, death is not present here in a natural sense. Death is represented here more in a reversible manner. Social awkwardness is made up from many little dying situations, repeated every time one allows it to do so.
The boxes are meant to be out of wood, yet they are only a lame representation of nature, a construct that allows people to limit everything easily, and for it to be out of sight and out of mind. Not being forced to deal with the pariah of the society, with uncomfortable situations, building quick walls around us, giving ourselves the opportunity to detach suf ciently far away, where ignorance does not seem so bad anymore.
The person correlated with the box, becomes the Emphatic apparatus.
For more information get the Thought Booklet.