In the courtyard of a corporate headquarters, a small virtual bird flutters. Flaming red and on the verge of burnout, it paces in circles, pecks at cigarette butts and knocks against concrete walls. When a wave of stress sweeps through the building, an employee on a break follows the fragile creature into a hidden garden. Through joyful, wordless rituals of care, trust slowly grows between them. As their bond deepens, the bird, the garden and the participant begin to transform.

Empathy Creatures is an emotionally intelligent immersive installation — somewhere between speculative fiction and poetic wildlife simulation.

Developed during an Artist-in-Lab residency at the Mobiliar Lab for Analytics at ETH Zurich, the work draws on research showing that nearly one third of Swiss office employees suffer from chronic stress. The experience first appeared as a prototype at La Mobilière's headquarters in Bern (Ctrl+Alt+Relax, March 2025) before premiering at Venice Immersive 2025.