Returning the Gaze

This exhibition examines how various projects employing different strategies of the ‘gaze’ can be seen to undermine various forms of power structure and to promote forms of resistance. Krzystof Wodiczko’s public art installation depicts eyes projected onto drones to give voice and gaze to marginalized groups. Behnaz Farahi’s project explores how literal masks might hide or reveal new identities offering marginalized groups a means to develop their own secret language to undermine patriarchal authority. Memo Akten’s projects use AI to interrogate the mechanism of visual perception and reveal how our cultural upbringing influences how we see the world. Lastly, Lauren McCarthy’s project addresses how the line between the machine and human gaze can become blurred while the gaze of the observer can influence the social behavior of the observed.

The idea is to use art and technology in combination with critical thinking to convey a powerful message about our contemporary condition. The exhibition moves beyond the use of technology as an end itself in order to initiate a conversation about what it means to be human.