Empathy Supper: improvising new ecologies of trust

Join Berlin-based artists Ariel William Orah and Pedro Oliveira for conversation, food preparation, an improvised concert with Orah, Oliveira and special guest Karen Ng, and a shared meal.

In an era marked by deepening polarization, economic instability, and the enduring legacies of colonial distrust, how can communities navigate the delicate balance between trust and suspicion? How do historical legacies of colonial control continue to shape contemporary economic and socio-political crises? How do diasporic groups construct alternative infrastructures of trust when state institutions and dominant communities treat them with skepticism?

Hosted by Berlin-based Indonesian artist and community organizer Ariel William Orah, in collaboration with long-time colleague Pedro Oliveira, Empathy Supper invites participants into an immersive exploration of these pressing questions through sound, listening, conversation, food preparation, and meal sharing. Rooted in the ethos of Sōydivision’s Soy&Synth, Jendela Sonorama, and Empathy Suppers, this event extends an invitation to collectively reflect and engage in improvisation as a method of negotiation, empathy, and resilience.

Improvisation—whether through sound, dialogue, or culinary practice—offers a method for navigating histories of division and envisioning new solidarities. Through active listening, spontaneous sonic creation, and collaborative meal preparation, this Empathy Supper challenges rigid perceptions while embracing fluidity and interconnectivity. Participants will engage in:

• Sound Improvisation as Deep Listening: Attuning to silence, dissonance, and resonance in social dynamics through collective sound-making.
• Conversational Improvisation as Negotiation: Exploring trust and suspicion through unscripted, open-ended dialogue.
• Culinary Improvisation as Coexistence: Preparing and sharing food without rigid recipes, reflecting on diasporic resilience and adaptive trust-building.
• Performance: Ariel William Orah and Pedro Oliveira with special guest Karen Ng

In a world where power structures breed suspicion, Empathy Supper reclaims improvisation as a political and ethical practice of coexistence. This event offers not just an artistic experience but an embodied exploration of how we navigate distrust, rupture, and reparation—where trust is not a fixed state but an ongoing, relational practice.

Ariel William Orah is an Indonesian artist and community catalyst based in Berlin. Orah’s interdisciplinary practice critically engages with systemic structures while addressing the emotional and cultural dimensions of displacement and identity. Working across performance, sound art, and socially engaged projects—with a keen focus on social and climate injustice—Orah co-founded the collaborative platform and art group sōydivsion, the think-tank initiative Mutating Kinship Lab, and the empathy-driven sound collective L-KW. (arielorah.com)

Photo credit: Irma Fadhila (bio), Hani Hamza (performance)

Pedro Oliveira (1985, São Paulo) is an artist and researcher whose work is committed to an anticolonial study of listening and its material intersections with the violence of borders. He is currently part of the guest faculty in Sound Studies and Sonic Arts at the University of the Arts Berlin.

Toronto-based improviser Karen Ng has established herself as a unique musical force nationally and internationally. Over the last 15 years Ng has performed with some of Canada’s most prized artists such as The Weather Station, Andy Shauf, Do Make Say Think and many more, appearing in high profile performances such as Jimmy Kimmel, NPR’s Tiny Desk, Austin City Limits and festivals including Big Ears, Pitchfork, Bonaroo, Primavera, Osheaga,Best Kept Secret and Wilco’s Solid Sounds among others.

Venue and Access Info:

The event is at 10C, fourth floor, which is accessible by elevator.

If you have access needs, please reach out by email ([email protected]) or phone (519-836-7300) so that we can work with you to accommodate you best.

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