Abstract
The evolution of post-structuralism as the intellectual paradigm of the second half of the Twentieth Century was accompanied by a simultaneous critical discourse concerned with the relationship between space and power. Central to this discourse is the work of the French intellectual Michel Foucault, whose analyses of the disciplinary societies of the Nineteenth Century established the multivalent tactics of power and its affiliations with architectural space. Through his examinations of hospitals, mental asylums, prisons and educational institutions Foucault demonstrated the way that space co-operated with authoritarian principles to turn communities into individuals and subsequently those individuals into subjects. Foucault termed these “dividing practices” and considered them a central premise of western society since the Industrial Revolution. Jeremy Bentham’s Eighteenth Century “Panopticon”, as the model of continual and uninterrupted surveillance, was the architectural model for this tactic of spatial control. This paper will examine the visual practices embodied in Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, and their relationship to broader architectural principles of control. Drawing on the emerging field of “visual culture” the paper will examine the relationship between power and circularity in the spatial analyses of Foucault and demonstrate common themes that predominate the discourse of power and space. The analysis will demonstrate how “division”, rather than “vision” is the underlying theme of the Panopticon and demonstrate a common spatial ancestry with other modes of spatial organization, particularly the Greek Theatre and Roman amphitheatre.
Keywords
Panopticon, Vision, Foucault, Bentham
Citation
Chapman, M., and Ostwald, M. (2006) Circularity, Power and the Technologies of Seeing: Panopticism and its Antithesis as Spatial Archetypes of Visual Contraception in Space, in Friedman, K., Love, T., Côrte-Real, E. and Rust, C. (eds.), Wonderground - DRS International Conference 2006, 1-4 November, Lisbon, Portugal. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2006/researchpapers/55
Circularity, Power and the Technologies of Seeing: Panopticism and its Antithesis as Spatial Archetypes of Visual Contraception in Space
The evolution of post-structuralism as the intellectual paradigm of the second half of the Twentieth Century was accompanied by a simultaneous critical discourse concerned with the relationship between space and power. Central to this discourse is the work of the French intellectual Michel Foucault, whose analyses of the disciplinary societies of the Nineteenth Century established the multivalent tactics of power and its affiliations with architectural space. Through his examinations of hospitals, mental asylums, prisons and educational institutions Foucault demonstrated the way that space co-operated with authoritarian principles to turn communities into individuals and subsequently those individuals into subjects. Foucault termed these “dividing practices” and considered them a central premise of western society since the Industrial Revolution. Jeremy Bentham’s Eighteenth Century “Panopticon”, as the model of continual and uninterrupted surveillance, was the architectural model for this tactic of spatial control. This paper will examine the visual practices embodied in Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, and their relationship to broader architectural principles of control. Drawing on the emerging field of “visual culture” the paper will examine the relationship between power and circularity in the spatial analyses of Foucault and demonstrate common themes that predominate the discourse of power and space. The analysis will demonstrate how “division”, rather than “vision” is the underlying theme of the Panopticon and demonstrate a common spatial ancestry with other modes of spatial organization, particularly the Greek Theatre and Roman amphitheatre.