'What You Looking At?'

I went down to Bury Art gallery to see the exhibition 'What are you looking at'. I found this exhibition very relevant to graphic design as it focuses on the obsession with the use of television, magazines, photographs, cameras, film and identity. It also includes personal letters and databases which hold personal information about others.

What are you looking at?

It seems that the 21st century is obsessed with watching what everybody is doing all the time this exhibition explores society's voyeuristic preoccupation with 'looking'; the watchers and the watched

It asks who's watching you

What I came across first at the exhibition was a Mutoscope.

Mutoscopes; were a popular feature of amusement arcades and pleasure piers in the UK. Mutoscopes usually included "girlie" reels which ran the gamut from risque to outright soft-core pornography. It was, however, common for these reels to have suggestive titles that implied more than the reel actually delivered. The title of one such reel, What the Butler Saw, became a by-word, and Mutoscopes are commonly known in England as "What-the-Butler-Saw machines." What the butler saw presumably through a keyhole, was a woman partially disrobing.

When I was viewing this exhibition I found that it would be appealing to everyone, as major aspects of our society are based on technology and people . Everyday, from reading newspapers, magazines and books, listening and watching the news and listening to the radio, we are involved in other people's lives. We are watching people who we don't even know even if its just at the bus stop or walking down the street or from walking into your local shops we are still observing. Some people can question why there even there, even if it is obvious.

We don't seem to realise that when we are observing others we are being observed our selfs. Others even have our personal details in their computer systems, e.g adresses, ages, dates of birth, telephones numbers etc. We think celebrities have it hard with the paparazzi. Its because most celebrities are in the public eye, there lives are written in the newspapers and magazines every week or even everyday for the world to see and read. So I would say this exhibition applies to all of us.

Even what I am writing now is being looked at....