Following Faces

Interesting Facts

Inspired by a plaster figurine found in a small English gift shop Stuart, along with sculptor Derek Ball invented this illusion, using opaque plastic as a medium and adding background lighting to aid the effect of having 168 famous faces following your movements.

Move left, right, up and down, the faces seem to track your every move. If you close one eye and repeat these movements it may strengthen the illusion.

Because our brain won’t accept a face as being Concave, we see the faces pointing out (Convex) as our “top down processing” or expectations from prior experiences tells us so - put your hand inside a face to make sure it really is concave!

Sufferers of schizophrenia will not see this illusion as their connection between sensory and conceptual parts of the brain is altered. Drunk or people on drugs may also struggle!

This illusion doesn’t really work with other objects or even with faces that have been flipped upside-down because of our innate human capability to recognize facial features won’t allow it.

This room has been extensively used for music concerts, plays and even a wedding – the ambience is certainly unique!