The Bay Area Video Coalition has curated a show around the idea of the Panopticon. This show is part of their on going series of exhibitions called Roh Stoff(Raw Materials).

The Panopticon was originally an idea for a new methodology of prison design and management put forth by Jeremy Bentham in England in 1785. In theory, the design of this new building would allow one guard to observe(opticon) all(pan) the prisoners but from a vantage point that would not allow the inmates to know if and when the guard was actually watching. The prison as Bentham wanted it built was actually never erected during his lifetime, but the idea of the Panopticon has endured in no small part because of the french theorist Michel Foucault. Foucault theorized that any structure of hierachy such as the army, the factory, the school and the corporation have all evolved to resemble a structure of power similar to Bentham’s prison. Foucault felt that within society we are always being normalised by the powers that may be watching because we are powerless to know if they are or are not watching our movements.

We do not have to look very far to find evidence of Foucault’s Panoptic theory. Next time you leave your home to go to work begin to look for and count all of the surveillance cameras that you encounter on your trip. The surveillance camera is the panoptic eye. It is always there but rarely do we know who is watching or if it is even on.

For their exhibition BAVC is actually setting up surveillance cameras and gathering footage to see what happens under the panoptic gaze. In January, there will be a closing party in which the product of the surveillance cameras will be on display along with the photographs of people who had pictures taken of them without their knowledge. I have some work in this show along with Ryan Kellman, Josh Smith and others. The photography will be on display starting October 13th you can stop in any time during BAVC’s regular business hours to view the work.