Empathy & Risk

Supporting Organisation(s):
Empathy & Risk
Chair/Other Speakers:
Olga Margarita

Artist David Cotterrell presented the Empathy & Risk project at the Instituto de Cultura de Baja California (ICBC) in Tijuana. Chaired by Olga Margarita Dávila, the event featured a Feedforward panel session that brought together experts from COLEF and SDSU to examine the rhetoric of borders and global identity. Supported by the Global Challenges Research Fund and Sheffield Hallam University, the presentation explored how artistic research can address systemic failures in international understanding.

David Cotterrell, Director and Lead Artist of the Empathy & Risk initiative, began the event by sharing insights from his research on environments with high tension and systemic failure. He framed the project’s methodology, which uses creative practice to challenge dehumanising rhetoric in border security and international policy. After his presentation, the session became a collaborative dialogue where Cotterrell engaged with guest speakers to bridge the gap between academic theory and visual practice. He demonstrated how his field observations in conflict zones, supported by Sheffield Hallam’s Art & Design Research Centre, relate to the Tijuana/San Diego corridor’s socio-political landscape.