Museum of the Eye
A Thesis Exploring the History and Possible Futures of Eye Contact
What makes people so drawn to eyes? What makes humanity drawn to the shape of eyes? Does it all have to do with their ability to see? What about sight makes eyes so important across cultures and species? Why is eye contact so important?
What is the purpose of eyes, more than vision? What happens in that moment when someone’s eyes snap to meet another persons’, animals, or photos’ eyes? What is this spark of recognition, communication, focus, and contact built on millions of years of evolution through survival?
The purpose of this thesis is to explore the eye and its role in society, art, and evolution of humanity, as an image and object. To address these questions with analysis of the eye, I want to design a museum installation that successfully discusses humanity’s interaction with the eye. How do recreations of eyes, meanings and understandings of eyes evolve through exposure across species and cultures? How will the digital age impact and evolve further what eye contact is and can be?
Introduction
My father’s prosthetic was a gateway of sorts into my own myopic study of the eye. The eye has always been for me, a mirror and a way to digest emotions. Thirty years ago my dad was in a car accident that changed his life and his face. The injuries were traumatic; reconstructive facial surgery from taking the steering wheel to the face. The most traumatic one that lasted was the ocular prosthetic he would need to replace his missing eye. I grew up never knowing my dad any other way. His prosthetic eye didn’t make him different in my youth, because it was hard for me to know the difference or fully understand the trauma of it. When I was able to rationalize it, not much had changed in my understanding; other than the fascination of how a person hand-painted his eye to replicate his remaining one. I began to realize that my dad didn’t really need the prosthetic eye at all. At home he does not wear it all of the time; for comfort, cleaning, and all manner of things that go into the care of a prosthetic. When I was little I used to come up with schemes to create a bionic eye for him, something better than what he was missing, something that secretly took photos or videos and stored it on a microchip. I suppose my proclivity for superheroes, and science fiction did not help these fantasies. But I had imagined his eye missing to almost be a benefit or something that could be made into a resource and skill. It took many years to understand this would not magically happen without a push. Through my explorations of ocular prosthetics, I began to ask myself, what drew me to the eye as a subject? Why do we seek out eyes?
In my senior year, I took a museology course where we studied many aspects of running a museum. As well, I spent the better part of a year putting together a gallery showcase of work featuring 20+ local artists, and have enjoyed event building and planning in the arts. From these experiences, I have the desire to create a micro museum to showcase work around having to do with the eye.
Originally I had the idea to design and build a new type of interactive kiosk that connects with eye contact from a passerby. With COVID-19 interrupting the ability for an interactive and performative piece to exist in the same type of way for the foreseeable future, I decided to consider how I could share my research in an interactive way still.
I have been focusing on exhibition design and interaction for the better part of a year now through museum studies and art history classes. I have become interested in contesting the white cube aesthetic, shaping the gallery and museum space to be more inviting, and telling narrative without feeling exclusive. There are connotations to digital inclusivity that inherently exclude people who might not have access to technology. This exclusivity is difficult to avoid in a time where so many things are going fully digital. Being said, it is also impossible to ignore the obstacles being faced in semi-public and public gatherings at this time.
