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Experiment 14 features in Auckland city’s outdoor exhibition space, the Bledisloe Walkway Light Boxes An Auckland City Council public art project From 19 November 2010 – Sunday, 27 February 2011
Experiment 14: The point at which five subjects lose control over their facial expression due to physical exertion.
A group of individuals were asked to undertake a test comprising the following series of tasks; run to effort level 10, have your face squirted with water, place your head between your knees, look up at a light. At this point one photo was taken.
The resulting series of photographs is primarily an exercise in authenticity coming from the question: what does the human face look like when we are unable to “pose / control” it? It must be noted that women were also exposed to the experiment but failed to provide a moment of ‘authentic’ facial expression satisfactory to the photographer’s requirements.
Without prior knowledge of the test, the images leave the viewer with numerous interpretations. The faces express a range of emotions; fear, exhaustion, anger, anxiety. The images also question notions of beauty: is beauty something that can only come from a face that is ‘held in a beautiful way’?
Visually simple, these photographs challenge the viewer through their raw and confronting viewpoint. Looking at a man at such a vulnerable moment is like seeing the face of a boxer a second before the final punch.
