lookdonttouch
Installation, in the context of solo show by Matthew Attard, at Valletta Contemporary, Setpember - October 2021
lookdonttouch
Disapproval, freedom of speech and the mundane
What can erotica tell us about our current state of mind. Where does our ‘languishing’ state lead our minds to wander to? A covid-induced boredom can lead the mind – and the eye – to wander. In an adolescent break-out, erotica is titillating, but can be seen as subversive in nature. Are we Victorian in outlook, and actually far more conservative in outlook that many civilisations that have preceded us?
Erotica – or at least porn – is not always victimless in its production – issues of power, consent and privacy come to the surface. The viewer is not a blameless onlooker – eyes are money, and the human body can be monetised. Thus, money bequeaths power, over time, bodies, and lives, through the simple act – or non-act – of the gaze.
The human body is simultaneously beautiful and slightly ridiculous. It’s also miraculous, fallible, vulnerable, and autonomous. The body and its eroticism, are intrinsically linked with humour and, if love (which occasionally surfaces) is present - eventually with tenderness.
Pleasure, provided by the human body, is a capitalist resource, and open to exploitation. Similarly, art – encompassing aesthetics, beauty and visual pleasure - can be monetised however much we may want to believe that it exists purely for its own sake.
So much visual material – advertising, packaging, television, film, popular culture, music, high culture – is made up of varying degrees of sexual or erotic imagery. Provocative imagery has become ubiquitous in our visual landscape; and appears, unsolicited on billboards, magazines, and online advertising.
Pleasure, erotica and sexuality in general have also become a vehicle of empowerment, leading towards liberation, autonomy and equality, and have contributed to many expressions of feminist and queer liberation.
In some ways, our lives have become detached from our biological selves, leading us betray our instincts. Social norms prevail over impulsive behaviours, but the visual – the erotic gaze – may serve as a vehicle for our biology without immediate repercussions.
Disapproval, freedom of speech and the mundane
What can erotica tell us about our current state of mind. Where does our ‘languishing’ state lead our minds to wander to? A covid-induced boredom can lead the mind – and the eye – to wander. In an adolescent break-out, erotica is titillating, but can be seen as subversive in nature. Are we Victorian in outlook, and actually far more conservative in outlook that many civilisations that have preceded us?
Erotica – or at least porn – is not always victimless in its production – issues of power, consent and privacy come to the surface. The viewer is not a blameless onlooker – eyes are money, and the human body can be monetised. Thus, money bequeaths power, over time, bodies, and lives, through the simple act – or non-act – of the gaze.
The human body is simultaneously beautiful and slightly ridiculous. It’s also miraculous, fallible, vulnerable, and autonomous. The body and its eroticism, are intrinsically linked with humour and, if love (which occasionally surfaces) is present - eventually with tenderness.
Pleasure, provided by the human body, is a capitalist resource, and open to exploitation. Similarly, art – encompassing aesthetics, beauty and visual pleasure - can be monetised however much we may want to believe that it exists purely for its own sake.
So much visual material – advertising, packaging, television, film, popular culture, music, high culture – is made up of varying degrees of sexual or erotic imagery. Provocative imagery has become ubiquitous in our visual landscape; and appears, unsolicited on billboards, magazines, and online advertising.
Pleasure, erotica and sexuality in general have also become a vehicle of empowerment, leading towards liberation, autonomy and equality, and have contributed to many expressions of feminist and queer liberation.
In some ways, our lives have become detached from our biological selves, leading us betray our instincts. Social norms prevail over impulsive behaviours, but the visual – the erotic gaze – may serve as a vehicle for our biology without immediate repercussions.
The Installation
Lookdonttouch is conceived as a structure that obscures or limits sight. So, the viewer is confronted with a wooden structure that 'contains' the image. A small eye-hole allows the viewer to look through to changing images on another wall; in a way the viewer is ‘enslaved’ to the work – they have no choice but to stand in that exact place, with their head and eye in that exact position to view the work. On a table beside the view is a drawing machine that is constantly working, making noise, and making marks on the paper below it. This, along with accompanying text on the wooden panel – although not explicitly stated – will lead the viewer to believe that the machine is reacting to their body’s or their eye’s movements.
Lookdonttouch is conceived as a structure that obscures or limits sight. So, the viewer is confronted with a wooden structure that 'contains' the image. A small eye-hole allows the viewer to look through to changing images on another wall; in a way the viewer is ‘enslaved’ to the work – they have no choice but to stand in that exact place, with their head and eye in that exact position to view the work. On a table beside the view is a drawing machine that is constantly working, making noise, and making marks on the paper below it. This, along with accompanying text on the wooden panel – although not explicitly stated – will lead the viewer to believe that the machine is reacting to their body’s or their eye’s movements.