What are the expressive possibilities of the human face? Of your face? The Expression Lab adjacent to the exhibition Messerschmidt and Modernity offers a playspace for trying out Messerschmidt's innovative approach to expressions and emotions—with your own face as the medium.

The Expression Lab invites you to respond to the Character Heads sculptures by Messerschmidt and the photographic "Face Farces" by Arnulf Rainer on view in the exhibition. Study your face and capture your expressions in the interactive photo booth. Then e-mail yourself a digital photo of your "live" Messerschmidt head and its artistic inspiration as a souvenir of your visit.

Banner image: The Vexed Man (detail), after 1770, Franz Xaver Messerschmidt. Alabaster, 15 1/2 x 10 3/4 x 10 1/4 in. (39.4 x 27.3 x 26 cm). The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2008.4. Self-Portrait after Messerschmidt (detail), 2009, Tony Bevan. Acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 104 x 90 1/4 in. (264.2 x 229.2 cm). Courtesy L.A. Louver, Venice, CA and Ben Brown Fine Arts, London. © Tony Bevan