Projects

BLINK 'THE END IS IN SIGHT'

BLINK ' THE END IS IN SIGHT'

  • Sightsavers
  • London, United Kingdom
  • 2019

On average a person blinks 900 times an hour – imagine if each one was agony. This is the case for those suffering with trachoma, a disease that the charity Sightsavers is working to eliminate by 2025. Trachoma erodes vision to blindness as eyelashes turn inwards, gradually scratching away at the surface of the eye. Through a series of digital images from leading photographers, the BLINK interactive exhibition gives visitors an artistic interpretation of the devastating results of trachoma.

An interactive interface developed by Jason Bruges Studio uses a tracking camera to capture the blink of each visitor, which in turn destroys the digital images pixel by pixel, until each photograph no longer exists. The technology aimed to connect viewers with a subconscious behaviour: their blinking, and inspire empathy with the sufferers of trachoma. As visitors view the images, they destroy them. With each blink, the photographs slowly deteriorate – flickering and fading – until they are gone forever.

The BLINK photographic exhibition, on behalf of Sightsavers, was held at the Oxo Tower, to create awareness of the debilitating disease trachoma and to target new donors in order to diversify Sightsavers’ range of benefactors. The role of MET Studio, Jason Bruges Studio and Barker Langham was to engage and educate visitors in the devastating effects of trachoma. The intention was to make sure visitors would leave with a sense of connection to those suffering trachoma. The most tangible factor driving the fundamental aim was the chance to fully eradicate this disease by 2025.

A unique and fully interactive exhibition where the visitor becomes an integral part of the display, creation, and core message. Through the works of renowned photographers, audiences experience the reality of trachoma. The plight of this fundraising exhibition, is made even more poignant as galleries, artists and estates donated a photograph to be destroyed forever.