Raising Compassion brings together a diverse group of neuroscientists, mental health professionals, and Buddhist monks in a remarkable exchange between science, art, and contemplative practice. In a series of informal conversations about compassion, initiated by neuroscientist Tania Singer and artist Olafur Eliasson, the protagonists discuss the public perception of compassion, talk about compassion-training programs at various research centres, relate their experiences about working with prisoners and in hospitals, and promote the practical uses of compassion-training in dealing with social and political issues.

Commissioned by the Max Planck Institute and produced by Studio Olafur Eliasson, Raising Compassion arose from the multidisciplinary workshop “How to Train Compassion”, organized by Prof. Dr. Tania Singer, director of the Department of Social Neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute, Leipzig, and hosted, in July 2011, at Studio Olafur Eliasson, in Berlin.