At the Instinct Art Gallery in Minneapolis, “Humanly Possible: The Empathy Show” explores the concept of empathy in a polarizing time with empathy on the decline.

Gallery director John Schuerman said the exhibit attempts to get people to experience empathy.

“It’s an exhibition that is meant to help people get in touch with their empathic response,” Schuerman said.

Senior Tess McQuillan said she thinks the idea of exploring a feeling in an art exhibit sounds interesting.

“I’ve never heard of an exhibit like that — it’s very unique,” McQuillan said. “I think it seems like a fascinating, fresh take on art.”

Artist Tina Blondell said her connection with the gallery director led her to the exhibition.

“I’ve known John, the director of the gallery, for a number of years and he thought that my work would fit really well because I work so much with human emotions and empathy,” Blondell said.

Schuerman said he decided on the theme of the exhibition after reading studies showing a drop in empathy.

“Part of the impetus for this exhibition was that I had read some studies that showed that empathy was on the decline in some populations around the world, such as college students and U.S. healthcare workers,” Schuerman said.

Sophomore Abdul Koroma said he thinks the decline in empathy might be because of a greater use of technology among young people.

“People might not be willing to connect on a personal level with others because of (technology),” Koroma said.

McQuillan said the studies showing a decline in empathy don’t surprise her.

“I think this art exhibit is onto something in trying to inspire empathy. It’s definitely a skill that our generation needs to work on as a whole,” McQuillan said.

Schuerman said current events around the world make the exhibition relevant right now.

“This is a very timely topic because so many of the events going on in the world, whether it’s gun violence or terrorism or the polarization of American politics, all of these things at least suggest that we need to exercise our empathic capacity more,” Schuerman said. “And I think that’s one of the points of the show — that empathy is something we choose to engage.”

Schuerman said though people usually define empathy as person-to-person, the artists in the show have expanded the concept to include empathy with the natural world.

Blondell said she started working on her current art series about a year ago.

“My latest body of work is titled ‘Displacement, Adaptation and Belonging’ and it’s about people who find themselves outside of their comfort zone,” Blondell said.

Schuerman said the nine mostly local artists in the show use a wide range of artistic forms in order to inspire empathy.

“There are sculpture installations, videos, a performance piece, paintings, drawings, photography, so it’s totally a wide range of media,” Schuerman said.

Schuerman said many of the artists used their own experiences to create their art.

“One of the artists is from Iran and she picked up several fragments from after a riot, these objects that were hurled in anger, and she grew these really beautiful crystals on them,” Schuerman said.

Blondell said she often makes artwork exploring how people experience happiness and sadness in U.S. culture.

“One of my large paintings in the exhibition is about how I think that most people in our society and in this country want to always be happy, and I think that’s unrealistic,” Blondell said. “I really believe that you should be allowed and able to feel sadness — it’s a normal part of being a human being.”

McQuillan said the concept of inspiring empathy through art makes her curious to see the exhibition.

“In art there’s the ability to put what you feel into a tangible form. It’s interesting to see what the artist makes, but also how you interpret it,” McQuillan said.

“Humanly Possible: The Empathy Show” runs until Jan. 16 at the Instinct Art Gallery in downtown Minneapolis.