Coming soon! The Power of the Gaze

Our gaze is shaped by filmmakers’ choices and by our own past experiences as viewers. It is already set in motion before the film begins, primed by promotional materials, other people’s opinions and our own expectations.  

During the film, the viewer’s gaze is guided by the camera, sound, light, editing and the way filmmakers arrange people, spaces and movement within the frame. These choices affect what the viewer notices, whom they empathise with, whom they believe and whom they consider important.

This exhibition makes visible the techniques that influence us as viewers.

In works created for the exhibition, filmmakers, film scholars and professionals from the field help us understand how the gaze is constructed and interpreted. How the gaze creates desire and expectations. How it gives and takes power. And how the object of the gaze may also look back.

Explore the exhibition, watch the video essays, play the games and try to notice how film guides you. “The Power of the Gaze” offers tools and skills for more conscious viewing, sharper analysis and bolder creation.

Exhibition team

Curator: Sten Kauber

Content team: Elen Lotman, Heinrich Sepp, Julia Kuznetski, Kerli Kirch Schneider, Mehmet Burak Yilmaz, Tanel Toom, Teet Teinemaa and Terje Toomistu

Project manager: Triin Kerge

Graphic design: Kristina Tort

Education programme: Helery Špitsmeister, Galina Zaitseva

Exhibition design: Valge Kuup OÜ

Technical production: Random Solutions OÜ

Marketing and communication: Helene Tedre, Krista Arro, Margus Sass

Estonian language editing: Hille Saluäär

English translation: Refiner Translations OÜ

Many thanks to: Aksel Haagensen, Madis Matesen, Krista Sarv, Mae Variksoo, Riho Ints, Vahur Lõhmus