Thinking Empathy in Biennials and Art History Again

At the end of the nineteenth century, German-speaking academia was swept away with the concept of Einfühlung, typically translated as “empathy.” Despite the strength of its immediate influence, Einfühlung was quickly dismissed at the beginning of the twentieth century by art historian Wilhelm Worringer, who critiqued the concept as simply self-enjoyment. Worringer’s influence was more significant for artists rather than art historians, but there can be little doubt that his critique played a significant role in the erasure of Einfühlung from the discipline. Yet, despite being disregarded in art historical discourse, Einfühlung persisted and informed the ideas of architectural historians, theorists, and architects in both subtle and, more recently, explicit ways. In this paper, however, I argue that contemporary curatorial practices make Einfühlung a necessary concept for art history once again. Moreover, I propose that art history should turn to the discussions around Einfühlung in architectural history and theory, which have largely been incorporated into the phenomenology of architecture. Doing so would position Einfühlung as a focal point around which art historians might create a phenomenological way of looking at contemporary curatorial practices, which foster inter-subjective experiences of artworks, as well as the architectural spaces in which artworks are displayed.