On Sunday, March 19, the biggest eye contact social experiment took place in Zagreb at Ban Jelačić Square.
As part of the experiment, complete strangers stared at each other’s eyes and souls for a full minute. Many of them laughed and smiled, some of them even shed a tear, reported 24sata on March 20. One of the participants said: “I’ve sensed a great strength in the eyes of this young man. He made me laugh and then we shared a warm hug.”
This interesting social experiment, organized by Liberators International, brought together hundreds of strangers in around 30 cities, including Zagreb for the first time. In the words of the organizers, sharing a short but intense eye contact with complete strangers can rebuild our sense of human connection. This initiative was designed to promote tolerance, peace and change, and to deepen the connection among people.
The hosts of this noteworthy Zagreb event were Monika Kun Smičić and Lora Topić, who stumbled upon the idea on Facebook. They found the concept of this global event interesting and took it upon themselves to see if the people of Zagreb would dare to try it out. They were happy with the turnout and added: “Some are willing to join in of their own accord and some need more convincing, and then there are those who come and make offensive remarks.” For the most part though, people’s reactions were positive and they hope to do it again next year.
In case you missed the event on Sunday, you can watch the video of the global eye contact event of 2015 here:
