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Enni-Kukka Tuomala

Profession
Empathy Artist and Designer
College
Central Saint Martins
Person Type
Teacher
Enni-Kukka Tuomala

Biography

I am the world’s first empathy artist and designer. My vision is to transform empathy from an individual feeling to a radical and collective power for positive social change through public interventions, installations, experiences, processes and tools. My work breaks taboos and challenges social, cultural and behavioural norms in order to bridge the growing divides in our society, whether between humans, or humans and other species.

Having created artworks and led projects around the world from London and Tokyo, to New York and Helsinki, my collaborative and research-based practice builds on understanding and investigating the delicate relationships between empathy, culture, space and systems. I have worked with the Finnish parliament since 2018 to bring empathy into politics, collaborating with six members of parliament to create empatia ele; a collection of empathy tools for politics. In 2019 I also launched the campaign for empathy, a community-centered campaign to promote empathy through art and design.

I am a graduate of the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London with a joint MA and MSc in global innovation design. A former classical archaeologist and ancient historian from Oxford University, before launching my own empathy studio I spent years working as an award-winning brand strategist at Saatchi&Saatchi and Adam&EveDDB in London. I recently exhibited my work at the philadelphia museum of art, installed my first permanent public artwork in london and opened the empathy HQ - a new creative community space and my working studio in Bow, London. I am an experienced keynote speaker represented by myspeaker, and look reframe the current conversation around empathy. I am currently a designer in residence 2020-21 at the Design Museum in London, and the open house artist in residence 2020-21 at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge. In June 2021 I am representing my native Finland at the London Design Biennale.

Links

Website

Central Saint Martins

Contact

Telephone

+44 (0)20 7514 7444

Address

1 Granary Square
King's Cross
London
N1C 4AA