Duchenne’s Smile is exhibited at Visningsrommet USF, Bergen, Norway. It consists of five white, enclosed wooden boxes. Each box contains a ceramic face on the inside. Fitted on three sides of each of the boxes are concave and convex optical lenses, which the viewer must look through in order to see the faces. These lenses will distort what is seen inside.
Duchenne’s Smile investigates whether emotions can truly be mapped as universal expressions and questions how scientific research often claims neutrality, while in fact projecting a singular gaze onto its subjects. This critical exploration of French neurologist Duchenne’s historical framing of the face as a mirror to the soul challenges notions of normality, standardisation, and what is the ‘truth’. The project turns away from uniformity as a scientific ideal and instead redirects the gaze toward individuality and subjectivity in how emotions are seen, represented, and interpreted.
