Featuring 8 International Artists Across Photography, Digital Art, Performance, and Code-Based Practice
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM — Celeste Gallery is proud to announce the launch of Synthesized Empathy, an online collective exhibition bringing together eight international artists to investigate the blurring boundaries between simulated emotion and genuine biological affect. The exhibition opens on 20 May 2026 and runs through 20 June 2026, freely accessible to global audiences through an immersive 3D virtual gallery.
Art at the Edge of Feeling
At the heart of Synthesized Empathy lies a question that is no longer speculative — it is urgent: can a code “feel,” or does it merely simulate the aesthetics of pain and joy? As artificial intelligence systems grow increasingly capable of replicating human emotional expression, the boundary between simulation and genuine affect becomes harder to locate. This exhibition does not offer answers. It offers a space to feel the question.
A Curatorial Journey in Four Movements
Curated by Celeste Gallery ‘s curatorial team, the exhibition is structured as a four-part narrative journey — from the biological origins of perception, through the material and structural residues of feeling, into a critical confrontation with the systems that classify and replicate emotion, and finally toward transformation and becoming. The result is a cohesive yet multifaceted exploration of what it means to feel in an age of intelligent machines.
The exhibition features works by JerryKanArt, Xixi Xu, Poppy Cauchi, Ketong Xing, Xusheng Yue, Jingyi Chen, Huiyi Yin, and Luciano Caggianello, spanning photography, mixed media, digital art, textile video, performance, and code-based practice. Together, their works construct a powerful dialogue between the human body and the algorithmic mind.
A New Model for Exhibition-Making
Presented entirely online through an immersive 3D virtual gallery, Synthesized Empathy reflects Celeste Gallery’s commitment to making contemporary art accessible to audiences worldwide — breaking the geographic boundaries of traditional exhibition spaces and embracing the digital as both medium and message.
Curator Calista Chen reflected on the exhibition: “We are living through a moment when machines can simulate grief, perform desire, and replicate the micro-expressions of joy. Synthesized Empathy asks us to sit with the discomfort of that — and to decide what it means for us as human beings.”
Synthesized Empathy is on view from 20 May to 20 June 2026. Free to access at www.celestegallery.uk.
Contact:
Celeste Gallery
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www.celestegallery.uk
Instagram: @celestegallerylondon
