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Project: Empathy is the answer
12th anniversary of Oficina de Proyectos Culturales OPC

Project: Empathy is the Answer - Empatía es la respuesta
Oficina de Proyectos Culturales OPC, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, 2026

To celebrate Oficina de Proyectos Culturales OPC's 12th anniversary, director Pilar Perez commissioned the site specific public art installation Empathy is the answer, 2022, to be installed on the east and north exterior walls of the property in downtown Puerto Vallarta in Spanish and English.

Donations from the following people made this project possible: Austin Young, Terence Reilly and David Schwendeman, Gabriela García, Heidi Di and Bryan Cooper, Lupita Basulto and Mauricio Pérez, Tony Hewes, Ireri Topete, Rita Myers, Marcela Bernal, María Mercedes Guillén Baumgarten, and Adrián Téllez.

Production of the installation was carried out by Daniel Cavillo and his assistants Silvia Rodríguez and Ángel Campos.

Project Empathy is the answer, 2022

Characteristics

Empathy is the Answer is a text art installation that can be produced in various forms. It can be created at any size as a vinyl cut or painted directly on an existing wall in an exhibition area; it can be installed on an exterior city wall or billboard. It can also be printed on clothing, tote bags, or as stickers that visitors can take with them. The design can be linked to a website where it can be downloaded for free and shared.

To convey its message, the work uses Morse code combined with the commercial barcode design. The dots and dashes of the Morse code, located at the top of the design, are elongated below to create the appearance of a standard barcode. The translation of the Morse code is incorporated into the design at the bottom of the barcode.

Any language that has been historically adapted to Morse code can be used.

Concept and Artist Statement

Empathy is the Answer is a project that forms part of the larger Morse Code / Bar Code series (2022 to present).

By combining the symbolic grammar of Morse code with the omnipresent design of commercial barcodes, the series creates works across different materials and processes, consistently centering on the value of life, human fellowship, and community.

In Empathy is the Answer, this formal investigation becomes a concrete political and humanitarian proposition. The work merges a direct, compassionate message with the visual language of commerce. The phrase “Empathy is the Answer” is encoded in Morse code at the top of the design; its dots and dashes are elongated below to create the appearance of a standard barcode. The decoded translation of the Morse code is incorporated into the barcode design at the bottom. Through this aesthetic strategy, the piece argues that systems like capitalism are neutral vessels; their moral value depends entirely on their application. They can be used to foster dignity and quality of life, or they can propagate strife through greed.

Empathy is the Answer is rooted in a personal and critical observation of our time. The world we inhabit today is far from the one I imagined for my old age when I was a child. Despite legislative advances around the world in human rights over recent decades, these achievements have not permeated the collective consciousness of humanity. Economic gain and political hegemony continue to be systematically prioritized over the value of human life.

In this context, Empathy is the Answer joins the global conversation calling for a paradigm shift. The work proposes a necessary turn for our survival on this planet: to place human life and the health of the planet at the center of our decisions and actions, above any other interest. Empathy is the Answer is not a naive statement, but rather a proposal to consider empathy not merely as a feeling, but as a critical tool and a necessary practice to reimagine our collective present and future. Through the very infrastructure of capitalism and consumerism embodied here in the design, the message of human fraternity is carried to the general public, inviting them to look closer and reconsider the codes that structure our lives.

“What if the systems we use every day were guided not only by profit, but by empathy” −Davis Birks, 2026

Empathy is the answer - Empatía es la respuesta, 2026
Site specific pulic art installation, black acrylic paint on existing wall
Oficina de Proyectos Culturales OPC, Puerto Vallarta

Empatía es la respuesta, 2026
Oficina de Proyectos Culturales, Puerto Vallarta

Empathy is the answer, 2026
Oficina de Proyectos Culturales, Puerto Vallarta