The (Im)Possibility of Empathy in SIGNA's Half the Suffering

Schütz, Theresa; Piggott, Jessi

doi:10.1162/dram_a_00901

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March 01 2020

The (Im)Possibility of Empathy in SIGNA's Half the Suffering

Theresa Schütz,

Theresa Schütz

Theresa Schütz is a theatre scholar, Research Associate, and PhD candidate working in the CRC “Affective Societies” at the Freie Universität Berlin. Within the framework of the research project “Reenacting Emotions II: Life Forms and Technologies of Immersion in the Performing Arts” she is writing her dissertation on contemporary immersive theatre. Since 2013, she has written regularly for the German theatre periodical Theater der Zeit. schuetz.theresa@fu-berlin.de

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Jessi Piggott

Jessi Piggott received her PhD in Theater and Performance Studies from Stanford University and currently teaches at the Stanford Arts Institute as the Honors in the Arts Fellow. An MA graduate of the Freie Universität Berlin, her scholarship focuses on past and present intersections of political commitment and theatre. Her research for this essay was supported by a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). jpiggott@stanford.edu

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Author and Article Information

Theresa Schütz

Theresa Schütz is a theatre scholar, Research Associate, and PhD candidate working in the CRC “Affective Societies” at the Freie Universität Berlin. Within the framework of the research project “Reenacting Emotions II: Life Forms and Technologies of Immersion in the Performing Arts” she is writing her dissertation on contemporary immersive theatre. Since 2013, she has written regularly for the German theatre periodical Theater der Zeit. schuetz.theresa@fu-berlin.de

Jessi Piggott

Jessi Piggott received her PhD in Theater and Performance Studies from Stanford University and currently teaches at the Stanford Arts Institute as the Honors in the Arts Fellow. An MA graduate of the Freie Universität Berlin, her scholarship focuses on past and present intersections of political commitment and theatre. Her research for this essay was supported by a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). jpiggott@stanford.edu

Online ISSN: 1531-4715

Print ISSN: 1054-2043

2020

New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

TDR/The Drama Review (2020) 64 (1 (245)): 155–161.

https://doi.org/10.1162/dram_a_00901

Abstract

SIGNA's performance installation Half the Suffering takes up the currently virulent debate on whether empathy is a panacea for society's woes. Inviting visitors to spend a night in a 12-hour empathy workshop, the performance critiques the history of theatre qua empathy machine, while questioning the altruistic impulse to share someone's pain.

2020

New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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