The first time Marcela Mulholland gazed into someone’s eyes, she laughed so hard she nearly fell out of her chair.
As a freshman at UF, she was instructed to find a partner in her class whom she didn’t know well. After settling down across from him and meditating briefly with the class, she opened her eyes to find him staring stoically back at her. Mulholland lost it.
“I was, like, so uncomfortable and squirming and falling out of the chair,” the 20-year-old said.
What started out as one of the most uncomfortable experiences of her life turned into one of the most powerful, she said. The UF political science and sustainability studies junior found that eye-gazing — prolonged eye contact with no communication — is a meaningful way to foster human connection.
“It made me feel like my core was the same as his, like we’re more alike than we are different,” she said.
Mulholland’s experience with eye-gazing is what prompted her to organize the first World’s Biggest Eye Contact Experiment in Gainesville on Saturday.
About 50 people gathered in ponchos and rain coats on the stage of Bo Diddley Community Plaza, located at 111 E. University Ave., from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. and sat across from one another to stare.
Some made small chitchat, others dove right in. Whatever the method, the goal was the same: experience human connection.
The experiment is part of the World’s Biggest Eye Contact Experiment that was held around the world Sept. 23, according to the website. In various cities, people shared one minute of eye contact with each other. The experiment was created by The Liberators International, an international social movement that creates participatory public demonstrations that encourage people to look past their differences.
Although Mulholland didn’t expect everyone to have a life-changing experience, she at least wanted people to leave with a new friend.
Raquelle Wallace got both.
The UF theatre senior had never participated in anything like this before but felt rejuvenated after five minutes of eye contact with her partner.
The 21-year-old said after the initial awkwardness, you start to feel deeply connected with your partner.
Taking the time to really acknowledge people has become increasingly rare, Wallace said. It’s events like these that remind people of each other’s humanity, she said.
“I think everyone else is looking at everything else besides other people,” she said. “I feel like this is the way people should meet new people.”
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Marcela Mulholland, a 20-year-old UF political science and sustainability studies junior, speaks to the crowd with a megaphone at the World’s Biggest Eye Contact Experiment 2017. The event was centered around making eye contact with strangers for a full minute or longer.
Julie Anspach, 61, makes eye contact with a stranger. Anspach, who is retired military, said she had “done something like this before, and I just loved the connection.”
