enni-kukka tuomala

i am the world’s first empathy artist. my multidisciplinary, research-based and socially-engaged practice investigates the relationships between empathy, power, space and systems. my work seeks to transform empathy from an abstract concept into a tangible and aesthetic experience – a material that can be seen, felt and shaped as a renewable resource.

my site-specific installations, public space interventions and participatory projects imagine new environments for connection and create intimate moments of being with ourselves, each other, other species and our environments.

since 2018 i have been examining the relationship between empathy and power. i have previously collaborated with the parliament of finland, empatia ele (2018-19), creating a series of artworks and collection of empathy tools for politics together with members of parliament. in 2019 i launched the campaign for empathy, an ongoing community-centered art project to examine the role of empathy in building stronger, more equitable and connected communities of the future. since 2023, i have worked as the election artist, investigating the state of western democracy, health of electoral systems and the role of empathy in political culture across finland, the EU, the UK, and the USA. in january 2025 i launched the multiyear empathy council project with the finnish cultural foundation.

after years of focusing my practice on interpersonal empathy, i have begun exploring interspecies empathy between humans and non-humans. i have developed a new body of research and a new model for ‘radical planetary empathy’; the empathy ecosystem, tracing the ecological, economic and social role of empathy in all human and non-human life, and a new growing body of work; forest empathy, understanding the perspectives and experiences of trees. in may 2024 my new large-scale site-specific forest empathy installation was unveiled in the new permanent exhibition at the finnish forest museum lusto, following a three year collaboration with the museum.

my work has been exhibited at tate liverpool (2022), the philadelphia museum of art (2019-20), the design museum (2021) and somerset house (2021), the BBC (2020), the finnish forest museum lusto (2024-34) and amos rex (2025) to name a few. in 2021 i represented finland at the london design biennale with the empathy echo chamber installation, inviting over 1,000 visitors to step inside the artwork to share an intimate moment with a stranger.

originally from finland, i live and work in london. i have an MA from the royal college of art (2018) and the university of oxford (2010), as well as an MSc from imperial college london (2018).