I am not complaining. The theme of celebrity and the need for celebrity constantly intrigues me. This exhibition followed the secrecy of paparazzi, the creation of celebrity and how celebrity was created through our surveillance. Sex, violence, war and drugs also featured heavily in the massive collection of photographs. These photographs questioned what art is? Is it the artist? The subject? Or an accident?
Largely the work here was accidental….so can it really be called art? I think it proves art is limitless and we must have faith in whatever it is… science, people, image or thought.
Art is set out to satisfy, give knowledge, break boundaries….
Even when the camera was relatively new it was being developed to secretly spy on people…maybe even reveal things we could not otherwise know. The magic of voyeurism is in fact it catches people off guard, as themselves, at their most natural and real.
I think this exhibition proved humanities lust for power and holding a secret, knowing something we shouldn’t and clinging to it. As humans we have a desire for the wrong and risky a desire to penetrate people’s lives and a desire to know all and control. With a camera you can do this. You can hold a small part of a person and do with it what you will.
In terms of an exhibition, it was well curated, well explained, but fairly boring. The pictures were interesting but repetitive, some well known, the others, not really that exciting… yes it was intriguing but perhaps would make a better book of documentary. After all we are all in control of our surveillance.. We can all take pictures of people on toilets and feel like we are in control…the fact is … are you?
note.
Alex's art! (cough cough)...
i have a good pic like this with alex from reading last year he poo's school boy style lol remember look at the camera and smile. love dave :)
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