Art That Actually Watches You Edit
Opto-Isolator

Have you ever looked at a painting or sculpture that had eyes that seemed to watch you?

You can try to convince yourself all you want that this wall mount isn’t watching you, but in this case, your paranoid instinct would be right.

The Opto-Isolator is the creepy invention of Golan Levin and Greg Baltus, artists with a mission to turn the tables on traditional art and offer a piece of art that is not only viewed by spectators, but spies right back.

The box has a watchful eyeball that studies and interacts with the person in front of it. It does so in such a realistic way—walk around, and its eyes will follow you. Try to stare it down, and it will take you up on the challenge… unless you succeed in glaring too viciously that is, at which point the eye will bashfully look away.

Looks like they were successful in their endeavor to “invert the condition of spectatorship.”