Surphaze Art Gallery has always been known for pushing artistic boundaries, but their latest exhibit might just be their boldest (and most uncomfortable) yet.
Titled Eye Am Staring At You, this endurance-based performance piece invites visitors to engage in an unblinking, high-stakes stare-off with the artist – who, so far, has not lost once.
The artist, a Brooklyn-based performance master known only as STARE (short for Super Tubular And Rad Exhibitionist), has reportedly trained for years by staring at brick walls, tax documents, and particularly buffering streaming content. “The eyes are the window to the soul,” STARE told The Gateway Report. “And my soul is locked in, man.”
The Rules? Simple. The Execution? Brutal. Participants step into a dimly lit room, sit across from STARE, and attempt to out-stare them. Blinking is allowed but discouraged. Looking away means instant failure. The longest challenger so far lasted a mere 46 minutes before cracking under the weight of STARE’s soul-piercing gaze.
“It was like staring into a void that was judging me” said one competitor. “I felt my entire life being silently critiqued. I lasted 10 minutes and had to go sit outside for a while, re-thinking my life choices”.
The competitor later said that he came to the conclusion to leave his wife and kids. That’s some strong gazing, right there.
The performance has attracted a range of participants – from stock brokers with hubris to meditation enthusiasts – each determined to be the one who finally breaks STARE’s legendary composure. One attendee saw STARE sneeze five times without even blinking.
Bizarrely, at some point during the late hours of the event, a robbery may or may not have occurred at Surphaze. Reports suggest that group of masked figures strolled through the gallery, with suspiciously large bags on their backs.
One visitor, who had been locked in a 20-minute staring match, vaguely recalled the crime:
“I think I saw a … clown of sorts? But I wasn’t sure if it was part of the performance, you know? Like, was it a metaphor for how art is stolen by capitalism? Or was it just an actual robbery? I didn’t want to break eye contact with STARE, so I figured, whatever, I’ll let it play out.”
Surphaze don’t want to comment on if anything was stolen. Meanwhile, the 24-hour exhibition continues, with STARE reportedly still undefeated.