"The Trickery" explores our sense of leisure and comfort in times of surveillance, artifice and distraction. The illusion of living fully while something lurks on the other side of the veil.
"Captivated by beauty and artifice, we let our guard down. Thick walls provide refuge, enveloped by a veil of enigmatic whiteness. Within this realm of intimacy, we surrender ourselves to comfort and spectacle. But the mist is thin and shrouds its secrets. The builders designed openings, disguised as beauty and trend. While we dive into reverie, they maintain their watchful presence. You can hear them, like whispering echoes blending with the melodious birdsong."
In the 18th century, the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham conceived a design of institutional building with an inbuilt system of control, allowing all prisoners to be observed from a single point. The fact that the inmates couldn't know when they were being watched motivated them to act as though they are all being watched at all times. It was called panopticon —from the Greek word for "all seeing", panoptes. In November 2023, a phygital exhibition invited a selected group of artists to explore their vision on this concept and its influence in the current era. To what extent are we willing to exchange our privacy for security or convenience? Can a society strike a balance between individual freedom and collective well-being?
The "Panopticon" exhibition took place at O Vello Cárcere, Lugo —the second Spanish prison built following Bentham's panoptic design. Exploring the enduring influence of the panopticon through the works of 12 digital artists worldwide, the screens were arranged around the octagon that was once the institution's surveillance structure inviting attendees to traverse a space where art challenges our perceptions and passive complicity.
Artists:
1MPO$TER, ANXO VIZCAÍNO, DÜZEN, SLAVA 3NGL, 0X3Y3, A.L. CREGO, INA VARE, HOXID, OLGA FEDOROVA, GANCHITECTURE, KATHERINA "KATE THE CURSED" JESEK, GARY CARTLIDGE
Curator:
SUTAN // NACHO