It is the first time the installation - I was scared to death/I could have died of joy, by the Canadian media artist Catherine Richards - has been exhibited in the UK, and it is one of six works created by established and emerging artists to be featured as part of the Mirror Neurons exhibition.
Sarah Cook, reader in curatorial practice and new media art at the University of Sunderland, who curated the exhibition, said the works "invite you as the viewer to be aware of your own perception and your mental action".
"The title makes reference to a recent discovery in neuroscience concerning how we understand others' intentions or feelings through observation and imitation," she said. "With art that reacts to the viewer we often watch how others interact with it, and mirror their behaviour, consciously or not."
Mirror Neurons runs until 20 May.