26.3.05
dont miss a sec
the panopticon loo
thanks to marisol for sending this my way. on "exhibit" right now in london is the installation "dont miss a sec", a glass-enclosed toilet in the middle of a sidewalk near the thames river. yea...in the middle of the sidewalk. the installation, which was designed by italian-born monica bonvicini, utilizes a special glass that is completely opaque from the exterior, but clear from the interior. it plays on the notion of the public voyeur and takes cues from jeremy benthams original idea for the panopticon, a prison layout where a central glass tower surrounded by the cells would be able to watch the inmates at all times. foucault expounded upon this in his book, "discipline & punish: the birth of the prison". the idea was to strip privacy away from the inmates and to centralize authority in the "omnipotent" glass tower. the glass box, while similar in ideology, is actually a subverted form of benthams intention, where the power of voyeur is given to that which is usually voyeured. while most people would try and peer into the prominent box to see someone pee (sick bastards), its actually the person inside that can watch unobstructed everybody around them.
i think while the exhibit explores interesting notions of the public and private, i wouldnt be one to take a whiz inside the box anytime soon. its not necessarily the privacy issue (im sure its a 100% opaque from the exterior). its the fact that while inside, youre still staring at faces staring back at you thats unsettling. bathroom time for me is zen...undisturbed and sacred. strangers with their faces peering towards you (but not at you) is not zen. and whether they were staring specifically at you or not, your perceived notion while being able to see thru the glass around you is that its still very much public (albeit an internalized publicity). besides, the activities inside the bathroom arent purely a visual one. i hope they sound-proofed that thing...
