Living in a city that's home to 8.5 million people, New Yorkers are experts at avoiding eye contact with the countless strangers they encounter every day (heaven forbid you should lock eyes with a fake Buddhist monk who demands $40 from you).
For three hours Thursday evening, some brave souls emerged from their bubbles to take part in the "World's Biggest Eye Contact Experiment," a global event taking place in in 143 cities worldwide, which was organized by a social movement called The Liberators International. The objective? "To engage the community in a moment of meaningful human connection," the Facebook event page said. "To connect with yourself and others on a deeper level."
Local organizer Amanda Silverman, who is also the co-founder of a community group called The Connection Movement, expects 2,000 people to sign up for the experiment in New York City. She asked participants to pick an intersection along Broadway between Houston and 47th Streets and stay in "mini-teams of 10 or less," according to an email that eye gazers received.
"Where has human connection gone? Share one minute-eye contact to find out," said the signs distributed at the event, which was held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday night.
Here are some New Yorkers who took the time to stare through the windows of their neighbors' souls:
Rachel Eddy took the picture below in Times Square. "As I was standing there with hundreds of people walking by there was an immediate anxiety that set in," she wrote in her caption. "But why? With each passing moment, I realized that no on was going to hurt me. Just like me they were people simply going about their day, wht the same hurts, the same pains."
This couple upped the intimacy quotient with a mattress and pillow:
Names became superfluous.
And the world just continued to pass connecting New Yorkers by.
