LONDON, ENGLAND.- The AOP Gallery presents “Crowd Control,” on view through November 22, 2003. Crowd Control is an eclectic exhibition exploring the contradictions inherent in the word ‘crowd’. Taken my members of the AOP, the show exemplifies the use of photography as a means of investigation into human society. 

Recent times have seen a wide variety of occasions when people have come together, united by a common characteristic or cause. From political protests, Jubilee celebrations, and festivals around the world to the rush hour commute and the scramble of the summer sales. The twentieth century has seen photography become a means of investigation into human society. A camera, unobtrusive and immediate, can peer into private moments within a throng and capture the poetics of social interaction.  

It is increasingly difficult to avoid the crowd in contemporary urban life. For most of us, this is no big problem: the vitality, excitement and feeling of unity provided by the best crowds allow us a glimpse a world that seems limitlessly vibrant and yet, at the same time, curiously peaceful. Sadly, the best crowds are counterbalanced by the worst sort: the annoyance of jostling sales shoppers; the dull uniformity of the commuting herd; and, of course, the thuggish gang.  

One of the questions raised by many of the photographs in this exhibition concerns whether being part of the crowd can be seen as a symbol of acquiescence or of dissent. The answer given depends on which photograph one considers, and from whose point of view one considers it. This exhibition not only focuses on historical moments which draw the masses, but the before and after effects of gatherings and the relationship between urban space and its inhabitants. The drama of being caught up in a crowd, if only fleetingly, and the feeling of being confined in an environment has also be explored. 

The crowd is therefore a paradoxical but unavoidable part of the modern landscape. Paradoxical, because in joining others who hold one’s own strongly held beliefs or characteristics, that very sense of individuality may be lost. The photographs in this exhibition demonstrate that everyone is unique, and this uniqueness can be visible even in a crowd. Simply being part of the crowd appeals to few: for most it is the opportunity to explore the immense variety and eccentricity of humanity that appeals. As Francis Bacon wrote: ‘A crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures.’.