The eye is part of the brain. This remark by Meyer-Schwickerata does not interest me merely as an insight, as a piece of scientific perception. It stimulates me to ask new questions, to set off along new paths. Since reading this sentence I have understood better why people look into each other’s eyes when they meet. Theoretically we could look at the ears or the nose. Both are openings in the body like the eye. If we look at the mouth we are looking at the mouth. It we look into each other’s eyes we are looking into the self, the person. If a mother wants to know the truth she tells her child to look her in the eye. The child speaks through its eyes, not through its mouth. Two passers-by who do now know each other catch each other’s eye in the street. If their eyes meet, it is an encounter. Death sets in on the deathbed when the light in the eyes goes out. The eye may still be open, but it is not looking any more. I can look at a woman’s hand. It remains an object, however beautiful it is. If I catch her eye, there she is the person that she is.
Otl Aicher
Tourism Campaign for Isny, Germany. 1976–1986
Design is fine. History is mine. 