Private

2009/2023, 12-part series, each 10x15cm, framed

Exhibition views
Marenzy Gallery, Leibnitz (AT), 2023

In the work Private, which consists of 12 photographs, Julia Gaisbacher shows a phenomenon of seeing and being seen, which is rarely discussed in the field of art, in an ostensibly voyeuristic motif. After all, it is photography that most clearly documents seeing and being seen at the same time. When looking at a keyhole picture, one tends to think of people's curiosity, of the allure of a taboo, and not of the possibility that the person taking the picture could also be seen or discovered. Today, however, a view through the keyhole also takes on a new "quality" due to the internet, in which private and public space merge. The desire to look, the voyeuristic elements of seeing are satisfied without much effort by what is offered cheaply.

A second, no less interesting aspect serves a possible manipulation of what is happening in the field of vision of the keyhole, which in turn refers to being seen, being discovered and thus, through manipulated action or arrangement, accommodates the curiosity of the observer, who does not even have to perceive this manipulation.

With her work Private, Julia Gaisbacher gives us the opportunity to discuss the limits of seeing, different sides of manipulation, objectivity and subjectivity, public and private sphere and the questions of copyright and personal rights.

Klaus-Dieter Hartl, 2023