Stijn Lijbaart

We're experiencing a massive increase in polarisation, economic uncertainty, and intolerance. Right-wing populist parties are playing the game of divide and conquer. They're capitalising on polarisation and trying to exacerbate this division.

But there's a solution, something that connects people and makes them more tolerant again: empathy.

The installation "INBELDEN" (IMAGERY) makes the conversation techniques, inspired by deep canvassing, tangible in a symbolic and experiential way. The mirrors contain questions and instructions that encourage deeper conversations. This also makes the mirrors a tool with which people can recognise themselves in each other on a visual and emotional level, moving from imagining to empathising. The mirrors visualise what deep canvassing aims to achieve: recognising yourself in another.

This installation serves as a first introduction. A preview of what these conversation methods can mean. Whether your goal is to become politically active or to make political conversations accessible again at the Christmas table, in both scenarios, it is incredibly useful to know how to connect people, now more than ever.

Do you feel touched? Or are you committed to something else? Get organised and join something, because together you are stronger than alone.