The Alien Gaze: A Brief History of Gaze Theories and What It Means for InterGalactic Cultural Relations
Abstract Code: 12510

Abstract

If thou gaze into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee…
~ Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

Art and cultural theory supposes a multitude of gazes that inform artistic intent and consumption. If artists want to make art for extraterrestrial audiences, how might the consideration of an Alien Gaze inspire their creative expressions?
This paper attempts to trace a very brief and selected history of the concept of The Gaze to help provide an initial framework for considering an “alien audience”. As Nietzsche expressed what is possibly one of the oldest forms of the gaze, looking out into the celestial abyss only to wonder if something out there is looking back at, or for, us could be the most genuine inspiration for creative expression of all. The gaze spectrum explored, form cosmic to molecular and back to cosmic, includes: 1) Early Cosmic Gaze: Kepler’s Somnium; 2) Measureless Gaze: Oswald Spengler; 3) Medical/Scientific Gaze, Foucault; 4) Gendered/Male Gaze, Mulvey; 5) Imperial/Tourist Gaze, Urry; 6) Quantum Gaze, “GRW” model, Ghirardi, Rimini and Weber; 7) Google Gaze, or the digital gaze of selfies, A.I. and other terrestrial devices that look back at us; 8) The Satellite Gaze – instruments and devices that we “look through” to see our planet and others; and finally, what I have coined as the Alien Gaze. My approach is both introspective and humorous, referencing worldwide terrestrial, cultural and scientific resources.