Art typically inspires emotion or provokes deep questions about the world. Some art, however, strives to scare the living shit out of people and actually knock them to the floor, where they scramble to get away.
Generally, when people go to a museum and do something that shouldn’t be done. For example, people try to look for a painting with a sign that says ‘Do Not Take Pictures.’ Most often than not, people will likely find someone sneaking a Smartphone so he or she can take a quick picture.
When there is an antique artifact in open display with a ‘Do Not Touch’ signboard, people will definitely attempt to touch or handle it, isn’t it? Such things have been proved on many occasions and once again has been proven true by this experiment-slash-prank put up in a hallway in Norway.
Erik Pirolt came up with an interesting idea for one of his sculptures, he would put it in a box on display and affix a warning not to stare into its eyes. Pirolt wanted to explore human’s natural curiosity and bet that most people would want to stare into the eyes after being told not to.
And yet it’s surprising how many people, perhaps out of curiosity, deliberately ignored the written warning. Eventually, they had to pay the consequences. A guy who stared the sculpture in the eye and fell down on the floor as a result. It’s the classic case of “curiosity killed the cat” although fortunately, in this particular case, no one really died.
He is so shocked by what happens, he stumbles backward and hilariously falls over, because the statue sprays water from its eyes, giving those who approach it a fright.
Watch The Video Here:
The video shows the punishment people get when they stare into the eyes, a powerful but ultimately harmless stream of water promptly shoots out. The water actually hits the plastic enclosure surrounding the sculpture but surprises the people because it seems as if they’re about to get wet.
This video “Warning: Do Not Look Into The Eyes!” was originally uploaded by user Erik Pirolt on YouTube back in 2011 but has again received renewed online interest, thanks to Reddit.