Why are you staring at me?

Why are you staring at me?

Although body language is the origin of all language, it was only researched relatively late. Body language is an essential part of non-verbal communication and includes gestures, facial expressions, posture, habitus and other conscious or unconscious expressions of the human body. We constantly send signals with our bodies and receive signals from other people.

A particularly exciting aspect of body language is what are known as microexpressions. Fleeting facial expressions, which usually last only a fraction of a second, provide us with important information for understanding the person we are communicating with. Most people are not consciously aware of microexpressions. Objectively, microexpressions can only be made visible with technical aids such as slow-motion recordings or film replays. Nevertheless, microexpressions play an important role in the communication process. We use such unconscious signals to decide, among other things, whether our counterpart and what they say are credible. The reception of spoken words can have a completely opposite effect if the body language of the conversation partner conveys different messages.

Microexpressions are visible and invisible at the same time. They are difficult to suppress, and only continuous training of the eye makes it possible to consciously perceive microexpressions. That is why they are possibly the most honest part of our communication. The work ‘Why are you staring at me?’ is dedicated to the phenomenon of microexpressions. It consists of a slightly convex, circular plate on which 90 hand-modelled heads are mounted. Each of these heads is unique. The expressions on the faces were moulded into the clay with both hands in a maximum of two minutes. In this way, the fleeting nature of a microexpression is translated into a ceramic process. The short time span severely limits the artist‘s possibilities for controlled design. The expressions on the faces appear to emerge independently from the material. They are an expression of the subconscious in two senses: on the one hand, the subconscious of the designer and, on the other, the subconscious of the recipient. For the emotion that the viewer attributes to a particular head is highly subjective. To refine the surface, the clay was smoothed and textured in the next step, without changing the facial expression of the head.

The title “Why are you staring at me?” refers to another aspect of body language. An unwritten rule states that only non-persons, such as zoo animals or landscapes, may be stared at. Staring at another person is rude, a kind of boundary violation. Some scientists even say that staring at strangers is tantamount to denying their humanity. The conscious dilemma lies in the fact that the complexity and detail of the work invites extensive viewing. The title forces the viewer to reflect on their own behaviour.