NOVAci: Tuning the Gaze
The exhibition brings together three new artworks that invite us to understand the gaze not as a neutral act of observing, but as a process of construction –material, emotional, and socially mediated.
The gaze is an elastic concept.
In everyday communication, it serves to identify spatial relations, other people’s facial expressions, weather conditions, or anything else discernible to the eye.
In film and, more broadly, new media theory, it conveys the attention of a subject informed by a specific identity.
The gaze is read from a static or moving image, but also from a narrative perspective, where the choice of focalization changes what and how the reader sees and knows.
Perspective reflects an attitude, as well as a worldview, principles, and values.
The exhibition "Tuning the Gaze", opening on Friday, November 21st at 7pm, at Small Hall of Pogon Jedinstvo, brings together three new artworks that invite us to understand the gaze not as a neutral act of observing, but as a process of construction –material, emotional, and socially mediated. Here, tuning denotes a fine adjustment – a shift, calibration, alignment – revealing layers of perception. Each work examines how the gaze is formed, reflected, and refracted through material, light, and the body.
The exhibition "Tuning the Gaze" is the result of NOVAci, a project developed in collaboration between WHW and Pogon – the Zagreb Center for Independent Culture and Youth. The program is based on an open call and is being carried out for the fifth time this year. It is designed to provide early-career curators with the infrastructural, organizational, and mentoring support to realize their first solo curatorial projects. NOVAci functions as a support platform for developing knowledge in the field of contemporary art, with a focus on practical experience in curatorial practice – something that is largely absent from formal studies. As part of the project, curators Ana Kovačić and Lea Vene mentored three curators over several months: from developing the concept and meeting with artists to selecting works, designing the exhibition, and reporting on the project.
More about the exhibited works, curators and artist can be learned via this link.
