Bagel Tree Coffee House, Edmonton, AB.
Selected Student Work – Curator: Daryl Rydman

Jeremy Bentham designed a prison called the “Panopticon”. Although his prison was never built his theory stood strong. The prison was designed in a circular shape so that a guard tower could be centrally located. The idea was to have a guard in the tower with a visual on all the cells at all times. Each cell also had mirrors so that at all times the prisoners were watched. This cut down on manpower and the prisoners essentially surveillance themselves.

Michel Foucault took Jeremy Bentham’s design theory even further. He believed that eventually you could take the guard right out of the tower and the prisoners would still surveillance themselves. All they would need is the belief that someone is in the tower. Michel said, “The perfection of power renders its actual exercise unnecessary.”(Crime and Punishment)

The Gaze is my interpretation of these theories today. How we as a human nation are surveillanceing ourselves at the fear of the overseeing eye. Images used in the picture came from Jeremy Bentham’s designs and the movie “The Metropolis”.
(Acrylic, Toner, Gel Medium on Masonite)