Margaret Haines presented solo exhibition I dreamt in heaven at The Hague’s 1646 gallery which opened November 3 and is running to December 3.
The installation explores “the ethics and aesthetics of empathy,” through a multimedia arrangement. Sculpture, performance and text-based works are placed around the space, including an email correspondence between Haines and a neuroscientist who discuss the “evolutionary and developmental implications of empathy.”
A short film is also presented alongside the other works, using the language of editing, sound and body movement to create a fantastical image that follows a young motorcyclist riding through suburbia. The press release expands on the term ’empathy,’ noting that it is a recent one and has its roots in Greek meaning “obsession, intense emotional state, unbearable emotional engagement, positive or negative, hatred even.”**