The Unseen Movie (2010)

An average adult closes his eyes 24 times per minute.

A blink lasts only a few milliseconds and this time may change according to the particular mood. Under fatigue, one can blink up to 40 times per minute.

Recent studies indicate that the brain "shut down" the eye in about 50 milliseconds before every single blink. This would be a way to save the eye because during the blink action it can not deliver any visual information to the brain.

Adding the "shut down" time to the 24 blinks per minute we can conclude that one has 1,2 seconds of blindness per minute which, in a 70 years life, is approximately 21 days with no vision.

The unseen movie is an installation that aims to visualize what was unseen and broadcast those moments of blindness.

In front, a monitor the user watches a movie. A camera on the top of the monitor is connected to a computer that tracks the eyes and detects when they blink. Every time the user blinks the image that appears at that moment is broadcasted in another monitor in real time.

This installation makes possible that other people watch what was missed. The unseen movie.

The movie broadcasted is "Moment. Aufnahmen" by Michael Prandstäter.