The exhibition explores the idea of looking versus being looked at. The give and take between the watcher and the watched, the loss and gain of control in an interplay of power and desire. Each of the four curators present a story in one of four self-contained rooms that comment on and raise questions about prescribed ways of visual conduct. They are stories that tread on the very fine lines between curiosity and spying, between the observer and the voyeur, between spectating and inspecting, between desiring and lusting.
working in a variety of media including painting, photography, video and installation. The point of departure for the exhibition theme is “the gaze” which is a recurrent topic of discussion in visual culture and has been the subject of a significant number of writings in art history, psychoanalysis and critical theory. The exhibition analyzes the forms and effects of the gaze as social constructs defined by the relation of the viewer and the subject. The exhibition set-up is divided in four distinctive areas that are interlinked thematically under the common concept of “the gaze”. Each of the four curators present a sub-theme in one of four rooms in the gallery. is the title of the first of these rooms, explains that “The visual form of the phallus or the physical male body is not manipulated and discussed as often as the female body, especially with regards to objectification. By seeing and focusing on the male body, we review our perception and existing notions of gender identities”. Curator works on the idea of the self-completion through the gaze, with a section that has the title of . The works explore how lonely urban males and females search for self-identification and satisfaction through interpersonal gaze and the mirror gaze. is the room curated by , as the curator explains “in modern society, the idea of does no longer only mean we are passively sensing or collecting visual information, seeing is now becoming an agent and a reason for our actions”. is the last section of the exhibition and is curated by . It aims to challenge old stereotypes such as the commonly held perception that voyeurs are always male and controlling and that their subjects are always female and helpless. Are women not curious and just as likely to peep through a keyhole as men are? Through careful selection and arrangement of artworks, the presentation delves into a melange of notions relating to the gaze and voyeurism by suggesting alternate takes on prototypal scenarios such as what happens to the voyeur when the sudden awareness of also being watched sinks in, and can mutual satisfaction result in an opportune symbiosis between the roles of the voyeur and the exhibitionist?