Gazelena: [gaze-eh-lee-na] street voyeurism and exhibitionism

In collaboration with allistar peters for sousveillance culture conference at the gallery:" the change you want to see" in brooklyn, April 26th, 2008, and ITP spring show, 2008.

Gazelena is a character we introduced to the streets in downtown manhattan. April 22nd, 2008 afternoon, gazelena had a trip starting from broadway & 8th street, manhattan.

below is the trip route in pink

issues we want to address:
+ The Gaze

This concept is extended in the framework of feminist theory, where it can deal with how men look at women, how women look at themselves and other women, and the effects surrounding this¡­ wikepedia

+ Voyeurism

I found this to be very enticing given that we all became voyeurs both willing and unknowing. Some would argue that when we portrayed Gazelena in public we provoked an environment of entrapment. But we use television as a window into the worlds of other, willingly and unknowingly. We can choose to look away but we often can¡¯t. In my view Voyeurism has bled over into everyday displays of attention seeking, away from and in parallel with sexual pleasure and continues to converge on a growing segment of ages. I found these articles interesting.
Layers of Voyeurism
Cultural Voyeurism & Social Media
Here¡¯s another article I found from the Internation Herald Tribune - Slum visits: Tourism or voyeurism? A bit of a stretch but valid food for thought.
And here¡¯s another wikiped synapsis of Voyeurism with links.

+ Pleasure

I refer to Pleasure derived from the Gaze. The satisfaction or joy, even momentarily, one gets from the gaze. It can be as innocent of a unusual but pleasant sighting to uninvited erotic stimulation, event by comments made by mainly men who had something to say. I will leave this to your imagination on all fronts.
Stanford Encyclopedia¡¯s take on Pleasure.
The pleasure seekers - An article from The New Scientist.
Laura Mulvey¡¯s Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema

+ Power

One question which came up was the ever shifting roles of Power, power between the Man and the Woman, between the Voyeur and the obsessively observed, the exhibitionist and the onlookers. Who has the power? Does having a camera give Gazelena the Power? The power to capture your gaze and show to the world? The Power to entice you to look? Who has the real Power? Men? Women? Both? I see a constant shift influenced my many internal and external factors. Hope this appetize¡¯ your thoughts¡­
Another wikiped¡­ entry Power

+ The Camera as the Eye

The Camera is the new EYE. It sees everything in it¡¯s path non discriminatively. Some even has varying depth of field and focus. Surveillance cameras are everywhere recording our moments all for some detached personnel to review or monitor in realtime. We look in each other eyes, to verify someone¡¯s sincerity, to validate trust, to secure the notion of ones love, to get one¡¯s attention. The breast also attracts much attention. Some wanted and often loathed. Look at my eyes, not my assets. Maybe they do mimic the eyes. They are almost round, seemed to have a pupil and comes in many forms, shapes and sizes. We placed the cameras there on Gazelena to capture those glimpses and stares, and exposed to the world the lookers spontaneous intention. Is this entrapment?
Snippet I liked The Camera and the Eye

+ Exhibitionism

Now, sure there¡¯s lots brewing in the mind by now on anticipation of this topic. When we think of exhibitionist we think someone exposing themselves in a sexually explicit way. in fact the clinical term for Exhibitionism is a mental disorder characterized by a compulsion to display one¡¯s genitals to an unsuspecting stranger¡­ - Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders. But can one be an exhibitionist with there clothes on? again, in this day of new media and the acceptability of the exposed skin and body form I think we can extend the term Exhibitionism to the clothed and the visual sexual implicationist - Yeah! I made this word up. We can expose ourselves, our private selves in more ways having access to many mediums with the desire to attract attention, desired and unwanted, wet provoked. But think about it, and while you do check out.
Welcome to the Naked Generation
Chris Heathcote: Exhibitionists and Yoyeurs
At the end Gazelena who is deemed and exhibitionist became a Voyeur by virtue of the camera. These intermingling roles have found its way into the new social construct.

building process:

second prototype: (suit)

I had a super great time working with Laura Moore and allistar peters. i also would love to thank to Karla Quintero, Laura Moore, Jada, and of course Marisa Olson, our professor for sousveillance culture class.