"The least movement is of importance to all nature. The entire ocean is affected by a pebble."
– Blaise Pascal
Empathinc is a fluid exploration of the countless overlapping of art, business, and relational interaction.
Based on concepts considered by Robert Vischer in the late nineteenth century, and later developed by Theodor Lipps and Violet Paget, the German Einfuhlung (translated as empathy) searched out how art was capable of the transference of vital content.
In the earliest definitions of empathy, it was considered that art could form as the vehicle for the very expressions of feeling and emotion.
Empathinc. is concerned with art as dialogue. Empathinc. projects promote the idea of specific fair exchange, and consider the very process of development as being essential and necessary aspects of any completed work.
While Empathinc.com deals primarily with abstract nuances and intersections or art and business, sister site EnnisArt.net deals with the concrete aspects of the projects themselves: the building, implementation, and client/artist relations.
Past
“I didn’t know that my younger brother was born with Down Syndrome. I thought he was from Korea or something. Exotic, like yogurt. But I sure knew people stared at him. I didn’t know that the man selling vegetables from his wagon was a Kneegrow. But I sure knew that he was treated exactly like he was like my brother. I didn’t know why my father wouldn’t let those boys from that one particular family come into our yard. But I sure learned that we could play along the designated threshold of driveway and street without breaking the established rule. So, I guess it is safe to say that as a kid, I was pretty much totally and absolutely aware of all the families in the neighborhood. Yeah. The Tardeds, the Cullerts and the Juice."
Empathinc. began
as an incursion into the intersections of art and fair exchange.
Empathinc existed as a gallery and studio (see archives) for these interactions from 2003-2006 in Charlotte, NC.
Present
“I didn’t know that my body would rebel and demand remission from my extravagancies. I didn’t know my heart would actually become congested like some emotional cloverleaf that would spill me out on to a crowded clinical bypass.But that makes some kind of sense when I think of the traffic. What twisted fate would torque Gabriel’s ladder into a contorted helix? How could my self-perceived strength turn into a convoluted vascular bobsled run?"
"So it is
safe
to
say
that I
really haven’t a clue."
Operating out of the “Spidey Hole”, Empathinc. has maintained a conceptual presence, especially in conjunction with “Brilliant World/Japan”.
Note: On December 15, 2003, Saddam Hussein was captured. His hiding place was referred to as a “spider hole”.
Artist Tom Schulz cobbled together a rudimentary studio in the unfinished basement of his home, referencing both this event and the protests in the rural south of Herbert “Digger” O’Dell. Digger allowed himself to be ‘buried alive’ in the 1960s and '70s to protest the Vietnam War and high gas prices. His career underground ended in 1976 due to his elevated blood pressure.
Future
“Children and their begats. Look kindly upon the unknown, Indeed, understand that the known is the most evasive curtain yet to part. There is no answer that is absolutely scripted. There. Is safety there? I didn’t know.”
Empathinc. and its relationship to time is akin to a slinky going down a set of steps. Even in kinetic action, one end rests on the step before and the other on the step after.
Empathinc. hopes to continue in the collaborative creation of sacred spaces and labyrinths. [See such works in progress, here.] Read more about Tom Schulz at sister site, EnnisArt.net.
To continue the dialogue.
Plans are underway to complete the first Situatrium by end of 2010.
About and Evolving Empathinc.
“I didn’t know that my younger brother was born with Down Syndrome. I thought he was from Korea or something. Exotic, like yogurt. But I sure knew people stared at him. I didn’t know that the man selling vegetables from his wagon was a Kneegrow. But I sure knew that he was treated exactly like he was like my brother. I didn’t know why my father wouldn’t let those boys from that one particular family come into our yard. But I sure learned that we could play along the designated threshold of driveway and street without breaking the established rule. So, I guess it is safe to say that as a kid, I was pretty much totally and absolutely aware of all the families in the neighborhood. Yeah. The Tardeds, the Cullerts and the Juice."
“I didn’t know that my body would rebel and demand remission from my extravagancies. I didn’t know 
my heart would actually become congested like some emotional cloverleaf that would spill me out on to a crowded clinical bypass.But that makes some kind of sense when I think of the traffic. What twisted fate would torque Gabriel’s ladder into a contorted helix? How could my self-perceived strength turn into a convoluted vascular bobsled run?"
“Children and their begats. Look kindly upon the unknown, Indeed, understand that the known is the most evasive curtain yet to part. There is no answer that is absolutely scripted. There. Is safety there? I didn’t know.”