Ryan Gander Is empathy a superpower?, 2025

Is empathy a superpower? is a giant black PVC balloon bearing the question “Is empathy a superpower?” in large white letters.

The work represents the inquisitiveness of children who ask what grown-up minds often dismiss as nonsensical or illogical. The medium in which this sentence is conveyed, a huge balloon, invokes the playfulness of childhood and draws on Gander’s use of children’s toys as symbols of their imaginative powers.

Human perception and cognition, the way humans navigate and perceive the world around them are recurring topics in Ryan Gander’s artistic practice. Gander’s works are focused on the playfulness and imagination of children, which is often more expansive and less restrictive than adult behavior, less encumbered by “reality,” facts and appearances.