Panopticon

The Panopticon is a type of prison building designed by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in 1785. The concept of the design is to allow an observer to observe (-opticon) all (pan-) prisoners without the prisoners being able to tell whether they are being watched, thereby conveying what one architect has called the "sentiment of an invisible omniscience."[1]
Bentham himself described the Panopticon as "a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example."[2]

"a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind" 

Jeremy Bentham, 1785.

1. Lang, Silke Berit. "The Impact of Video Systems on Architecture", dissertion, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, 2004.

2. Bentham, Jeremy. Panopticon (Preface). In Miran Bozovic (ed.), The Panopticon Writings, London: Verso, 1995, 29-95.

Missenden Centre

Following a very useful Research & Publishing Seminar at the Missenden Centre in Buckinghamshire, I have invited Ashley Morgan to collaborate with Matt and I in the Gridlocked project and blog. Ashley will complement our digital media skills with a more thorough approach to the underpinning theory and questions that the research reveals. Following our discussions on main themes of surveillance, gaming and timecode, I will explore the relationship between the webcam and prison, in particular the panopticon, as designed by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in 1785.