first semester portfolio

UNDERSTANDINGS
LOCATIONS + VARIETIES
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Power
‫ﺓﻱﺡﺍﻝﺹ‬
‫ﺓﻭﻕ ﻝﻭﺡ‬
‫ﺫﻭﻑﻥ‬
‫ﺭﻱﺙﺃﺕ‬
‫ﺓﻩﺍﻝﺇ ﻭﺇ ﻩﻝﺍ‬
‫ﺓﺭﺩﻕ‬
‫ﺓﻭﻕ‬
‫ﻥﺍﻁﻝﺱ‬
‫ﺕﺍﻁﻝﺱ‬
‫ﺓﻁﻝﺱ‬
‫ﺓﻱﻝﻕﻉ ﺓﻭﻕ‬
‫ﺓﻕﺍﻁ‬
‫ﺓﻭﻕﻝﺍ‬
‫ﻝﻭﺡ‬
‫ﺃ‬. ‫ﺓﺭﺩﻕﻡ‬
‫ﻝﻍﺵ‬
‫ﻑ‬. ‫ﺓﻁﻝﺱﻝﺍ ﻱﻝﺍ ﻝﺹﻭ‬
mécanique
motorise
pouvoir
autorité
force
puissance
alimentation électrique énergie
alimenter en électricité
mettre en marche
mechanisch
beweglich
motorisch
Kraft
Macht
Stärke
Gewalt
Strom
Exponent
Hochzahl
mit Energie versehen antreiben
ουσ. ισχύς
εξουσία
δύναμη
ενέργεια
azionato da motore
motorizzato
s. efficacia
potere
potenza
influenza
ascendente
intensità
vigore
forza
vigoria
capacità
facoltà
mandato
delega
persona potente
grande quantità
mucchio
fonte d'energia
fornire forza motrice a
alimentare
fornire energia elettrica a
spronare
stimolare
電力で動かす
力を行使する
力
体力
力強さ
知力
権力
権限
能力
才能
実行力
実力
電力
指数
動力を供給する
motor
mecânico
poder
energia
força
domínio
superioridade
força (eletricidade)
fornecer energia
movimentar
прил. силовой
энергетический
моторный
машинный
сила
мощь
энергия
мощность
производительность могущество
власть
влияние
государственная власть
сверхъестественные силы возможность
способность
полномочие
держава
множество
степень
сила увеличения
снабжать силовым двигателем
adj. motorizado
mecánico
s. poder
autoridad
cetro
facultad
intensidad
mando
poderío
potencia
potestad
pujanza
energía
empuje
fuerza
v. suministrar energía
fuerza eléctrica
impulsar
accionar
i. güç
kuvvet
enerji
yetenek
iktidar
otorite
üs [mat.]
yetki
derman
takât
f. çalıştırmak
güç sağlamak
elektrik vermek
Image source: www.banksy.co.uk
ROYAL HALLAMSHIRE HOSPITAL
CITY CENTRE BUSINESS DISTRICT
UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD
SHEFFIELD TOWN HALL
CATHEDRAL OF ST PAUL
Through the ability to provide expertise + knowledge. Expert Power.
The accumulation of monetary wealth, capital + influence. Economic Power.
Generating and distributing cultural capital + knowledge. Transformative Power.
Exercising authority over consenting subjects, or governing. Legitimate Power.
By instilling in followers a sense of belief + loyalty. Reward Power.
CASTLE MARKET
Through the unification of people + voice. Social Power.
DEFINING POWER
POWER - OVER
POWER - TO
power-knowledge, Foucault + discipline
The Oxford English Dictionary provides 79 pages
of definitions for the word ‘power.’ these include;
leading / inspiring others + self
2. c. Capacity to direct or influence the behaviour of
others; personal or social influence.
self-empowerment / reform
2. b. Authority given or committed. Also: liberty or
permission to act.
choice of own actions / liberty
positional power / uniform
2. a. Control or authority over others; dominion, rule;
government, command.
threat of globalisation / loss of individuality - a reaction against
democracy, trust + abuse of authority
RECONSIDERING TERMS
The Oxford English Dictionary provides only 1
definition for the word ‘empowerment’ which is;
It became obvious from our preliminary research into the subject of ‘empowerment’ that for a
profound understanding of what empowerment may entail, it was firstly imperative that we
develop a more comprehensive grasp of what ‘power’ actually is.
The action of empowering; the state of being
empowered.
Furthermore, rather than separate ‘power’ from ‘empowerment’ in our newly developing vocabulary
- we quickly decided to reevaluate the terms and instead base our discussions around the notions
of ‘power-over’ and ‘power-to’. To illustrate this we produced a map of power on the studio wall
(reinterpreted right) and placed our own orientation using the readings we had done to date. These
two fundamental considerations of power are outlined by Kim Dovey in Framing Places:
Image source: www.banksy.co.uk
“The term ‘power’ is widely used, and misused, in a rather global manner to refer to a variety of different
capacities and effects. I want to try to avoid this through a short analysis of ‘power’ as a concept. The
term derives from the Latin potere, ‘to be able’ —the capacity to achieve some end. Yet power in human
affairs generally involves control ‘over’ others. This distinction between ‘power to’ and ‘power over’, is
between power as capacity and as a relationship between people.”
foundations of power + masses
DEFINING EMPOWERMENT
dictatorship + the gaze of power (panopticon effect / surveillance)
+ 70 pages
MAPPING
POWER
power through support / numbers
STUDIO KEYWORDS
MEANINGS + READINGS
Accumulation
Individualization
Activism
Information
Authority :
Power to enforce obedience.
Appropriation
Interdependence
Text :
Richard Ross. The Architecture of Authority. 2007.
Authority
Intimidation
In this captivating photographic study, Ross captures one of the primary forms of power - authority. He provides images ranging from the interrogation rooms at Abu Ghraib
Autonomy
Imprisonment
to a US lethal injection chamber. The book offers a fascinating insight into how the most secretive manifestations of power exist spatially.
Assemblage/Assembly
Knowledge
Boundaries
Liberty
Bureaucracy
Liberalism
Capacity
Legitimation
Capacity :
Ability to receive or contain; holding power. Mental or intellectual receiving power; ability to grasp or take in impressions, ideas, knowledge.
Capital
Margin
Text :
Barry Hindess. Discourses of Power. 1996.
Capitalism
Metaphysical
With reference to a wealth of the core thinkers and philosophers on the subject of power, Hindess suggests that throughout Western philosophical thought there have been
Choice/Option
Manipulation
two predominant conceptions of power. The first of which envisages power as a simple quantitative phenomenon, which is nothing more than a generalised capacity to act.
Coercion
Observation
Whilst the second, more complex understanding is that of power not only as a capacity but also as a right to act, both of which become dependent on the consent of those
Consumer
Oppression
over whom the power is exercised.
Consumerism
Parliament
Control
Positional
Conflict
Proletariat
Confinement
Propaganda
Control :
The fact of controlling, or of checking and directing action; the function or power of directing and regulating.
Cultural Capital
Public
Text :
Thomas A Markus. Buildings and Power. 1993.
Corporation
Referent
Markus analyses the asymmetries of power embedded in a large range of institutional building types emerging from 1750 to 1850: town halls, baths, markets, libraries,
Corporative
Reprieve
galleries, schools, factories, prisons, hospitals and asylums. According to him, power relations are embedded in spatial programs and as such - to a greater or lesser extent -
Currency
Responsibility
buildings all have the potential to be empower or disempower their users.
Dimension
Reward
Democracy
Risk
Desire-Machine
Seduction
Domination
Society
Knowledge :
The fact of controlling, or of checking and directing action; the function or power of directing and regulating.
Dystopia
Spectacle
Text :
Michel Foucault. Various.
Economy
Strategy
Foucault argues that in the modern era power is productive of knowledge and knowledge is productive of power. This involves a new view of power and new types of power,
Education
Subterfuge
of which the most important is ‘disciplinary power’. This form of power is transformative of those subject to it and it uses knowledge as a resource in the process. Far from
Empowerment
Submission
being merely prohibitive, the controls of this new form of power are actually productive. Knowledge is thus a necessary resource of power.
Equality
Subversion
Equalitarianism
Superfusion
Exchange
Surveillance
Feminist
System
Force
Tactics
Filter
Totalitarian
Freedom
Transformative
Identity
Trust
Incarcerate
Utopia
Independence
Visibility
Close observation of a person or group, especially one under suspicion.
Or. The act of observing or the condition of being observed.
Source: dictionary.oed.com
Punishment :
The infliction of a penalty or sanction in retribution for an offence or transgression; (also) a sanction imposed to ensure the application and enforcement of a law.
Text :
Michel Foucault. Discipline and Punish. 1977.
Foucault challenges the commonly accepted idea that the prison became the consistent form of punishment due to humanitarian concerns of reformists, although he does
not deny those. He does so by meticulously tracing out the shifts in culture that led to the prison's dominance, focusing on the body and questions of power. Prison is a form
used by the "disciplines", a new technological power, which can also be found, according to Foucault, in schools, hospitals, military barracks, etc. The main ideas of Discipline
Image source: www.banksy.co.uk
and Punish can be grouped according to its four parts: torture, punishment, discipline and prison.
GOOGLE-DOC. BIBLIOGRAPHY
STRATEGIES . TACTICS . TECHNOLOGIES + TOOLS OF POWER
Power, albeit a capacity, is not an autonomous quality - it exists between people. Architecture can facilitate, amplify or eradicate such asymmetrical relationships but is still ultimately only a physical tool of power (or more accurately of those agents who are in power).
to
m
a
An ongoing focus of the studio as a group - and as a collection of individuals - will fundamentally be the exploration and investigation into the wider means by which power and/or empowerment may be exploited or created between agents and how this is achieved.
The Architecture of Authority. An insight into the spatial programming of power through the lens of photographer Richard Ross.
1st row, left to right:
Sound-proof Interview Room, El Paso Sheriff Dept. | Santa Barbara High School, California | Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam | Guantanamo, Cuba | FBI headquarters, San
Francisco | Law Courts, Goteborg, Sweden | Angola State Penitentiary, Angola, Louisiana
2nd row, left to right:
Santa Barbara Police Department | DG Bank, Frankfurt | Anstruther, Scotland | Topkapi Palace, Istanbul | Blue Mosque, Istanbul | Homeland Security, San Francisco
Superior Court, Santa Barbara, California
3rd row, left to right:
US Border - Tijuana, Mexico | US Border - Tijuana | FBI headquarters, Los Angeles | Secret Service headquarters, Los Angeles | Secret Service headquarters | Los
4th row, left to right:
Prietos Boys' Camp, Santa Barbara | Los Angeles Police Department, Fifth and Wall Street
Image source: www.banksy.co.uk
Hillingdon, London | Santa Barbara Police Department, Santa Barbara | Lethal injection chamber - Angola State Penitentiary, Angola, Louisiana
k
jec
ub
s
e
ts
p
of
er
ow
, th
ible
vis
gh
rou
nda
paga
, pro
n
o
i
t
a
, loc
orm
unif
ans
er m e
o r ot h
to contain, restrict, enclose + lock away to ensure the efficient and uncontested exercise of powe
r (sometimes con
cealed under
the intent
io
n of ben
evolen
ce or ‘
p
ublic
inte
rest
’)
prevention + force
POWER IS EVERYWHERE.
Most people, most of the time, take the built environment for granted. As a result of our social conditioning
and ignorance, these aforementioned stories and readings of power become blurred - even lost. This
relegation of built form to the unquestioned frame is the key to its relations to power. The more that the
structures and representations of power can be embedded in the framework of everyday life, the less
questionable they become and the more effectively they can work. This is what lends built form a prime role
as ideology. It is what Bourdieu calls the ‘complicitous silence’ of place as a framework to life that is the source
of its deepest associations with power.
Power Walk 1 (arrowhead denotes significant manifestation of power)
As a Studio, we undertook a day of field research, with the aim of identifying examples of power within the
built environment - notably our immediate context - Sheffield. The intention was simply to illustrate just
how widespread, everpresent and dominant forms of power are within our lives. Within this field exercise, my
particular preoccupation became the observation, recording, cataloguing and analysis of these particular
instances of ‘discreet’ or ‘hidden’ power. Those things which we have become accustomed to, numb to and
ignorant of, and in doing so helping to facilitate the existence of oppressive power relations.
A
Power Walk 2 (arrowhead denotes significant manifestation of power)
Power Walk 3 (arrowhead denotes significant manifestation of power)
B
-
Tesco’s (economic / social power)
C
-
UoS (transformative / cultural power)
D
-
City Hall (civic power)
E
-
Town Hall (legitimate power)
F
-
Castle Market (social / accumulative power)
G
-
Law Courts (judicial power)
H
-
Police Headquarters (authoratative power)
J
-
Cathedral of St Paul (religious power)
K
-
Church St Banks (economic power)
001.jpg
002.jpg
007.jpg
004.jpg
009.jpg
005.jpg
010.jpg
Three Concepts of ‘Power-over”
Possible Typologies of Power
Cylindrical gas works (industrial power)
B
Method 002: surveillance, paranoia + observation
004.jpg
Power over’ is the power of one agent (or group) over another, the power to ensure the compliance of the
other with one’s will. There are many concepts which are partially synonymous with power in this regard, and
the distinctions between them are important. Dovey (1999) suggests there are three primary forms of ‘power
over’ - which may be illustrated with references to findings of the photographic survey + walk.
005jpg
006.jpg
G
H
F
Method 003: authority, rule + regulation
J
007.jpg
C
‘Force’ is the overt exercise of power which strips the subject of any choice of non-compliance. Typical
examples in built form include all kinds of enforced spatial confinement (prisons and institutions of
incarceration) and of enforced spatial exclusion (the medieval fortress; the housing enclave; locks, bars and
walls). The use of force in built form is common since all walls, doors, fences and security devices which
prevent access enforce spatial practice in this rather obvious manner. Force is a limited form of power since it
can prevent action more easily than it can create it.
‘Coercion’ can be defined as the threat of force to secure compliance. It may be construed as a latent kind of
force. Coercion is more effective than overt force because it operates under the cover of voluntarism. It gains
its power from implied sanctions, which often prevent the subject from ever forming any intention of
resistance.
003.jpg
008.jpg
008jpg
K
‘Authority’ is a form of ‘power over’ which is integrated with the institutional structures of society—primarily
the state, private corporation and family. Authority is marked by the absence of argument, it relies on an
unquestioned recognition and compliance. Based on socially acknowledged rights and obligations, authority
is the most pervasive, reliable, productive and stable form of power. It embodies the power to circumvent
argument and to frame the terms of reference of any discussion. Yet authority rests upon a base of
‘legitimation’ (Arendt 1986:65). Legitimation is what connects authority to the ‘public interest’. We recognize
authority as legitimate because it is seen to serve a larger interest; in the case of the state this is the public
interest.
D
E
Method 001: physical prevention, restriction or force
011.jpg
001.jpg
002.jpg
003.jpg
coercion + threat
This was achieved through a detailed photographic survey (shown partly on the right), providing a visual
micro-database to portray how Power is everywhere. Most examples cited are obvious - which is partly the
point - it isn’t until we actively begin to recognise subtle forms of power and control within our cities and
towns that we truly begin to appreciate how abundant and suffocating the really are.
Primary built form of power (typology of power)
-
authority + regulation
Acknowledging Power - A Photographic Study
Key to map
A
paranoia
Method 004: coercion, threat + deterrent
Recordings - A Commentary
009.jpg
010jpg
011.jpg
001.jpg
002.jpg
003.jpg
004.jpg
005.jpg
006.jpg
007.jpg
008.jpg
009.jpg
010.jpg
011.jpg
-
Railings provide an obvious form of control outside the Police Headquarters
Electronic security access systems also ensure a threshold or barrier is maintained
Decorative steel fixings on wall conceal more controlling attempt to stop skateboarders
CCTV has become an integrated part of the built environment yet remains an aferthought
CCTV mast overlooks a nearby skatepark, sending a “behave, we’re watching you” message
The mere suggestion that we’re being watched creates a panopticon effect on the public
Symbolism and signage becomes a medium of power. If one sign doesn’t speak clearly...
Terminology and demarcation based on legitimate authority in the name of public interest
The threat of implied sanctions is usually sufficient to ensure compliance
Sometimes the inundation of information is used to prevent questioning from subjects
Action rarely needs to exist, merely the indication of control can often be enough
006.jpg
EXAMPLE: “THE FORTRESS OF FLOOR 14” (OR THE CONTROL THRESHOLDS OF PBJ)
THE SOCIAL LOGIC OF POWER - THRESHOLDS, BARRIERS + DEPTHS OF CONTROL IN BUILDINGS
In Buildings and Power, Thomas Markus suggests that buildings
produces a spatial narrative with very strong levels of control in all cells except
predominantly admit two categories of people – ‘inhabitants’ and ‘visitors.’
the deepest.
The former have an investment of power and are the controllers, the latter
analysing the varying degrees of power and empowerment is the depth to
enter or stay as subjects of the system – the controlled – shoppers, diners,
which visitors are permitted to penetrate into the structure. Traditionally, the
museum visitors, inmates in hospitals or prisons, theatre audiences and
deeper cells of the structure were occupied by the inhabitants or controllers
church congregations. The raison d’etre of the building is to interface the two
and the shallower cells by visitors. Positions of power were then located deep
and exclude strangers.
within a tree-like or linear structure. The depth of the inhabitant was an
For Hillier and Hanson, a fundamental consideration when
b
b
d
d
d
2
indicator of status, and the depth to which visitors were permitted to
Markus identifies the space syntax methods introduced by Hillier and Hanson
as a method of measuring and representing the spatial configurations and
1
penetrate also indicated their status. By analysing the floor plans of various
buildings, Markus arrives at a similar conclusion;
power hierarchies of most building forms. Through their work, Hillier and
Hanson seek to uncover deep socio-spatial structures, the ‘genotypes’ of
“In public buildings there is a shallow visitor zone. Visitors interface with
architecture. Genotypes are not formal ‘types’ or ‘archetypes’ as often debated
the inhabitants at some spatial barrier which prevents deeper penetration:
in architecture. Rather they are clusters of spatial segments structured in
the counter in shops and banks, the bar in pubs, the proscenium arch in
certain formations with syntactic rules of sequence and adjacency. Shops,
theatres, the gallery space of museums. The inhabitants occupy a zone
factories, schools, offices, libraries, houses, suburbs will be reproduced from a
beyond this which, to the visitors, looks deep and usually has its own
limited number of spatial genotypes each linked to specific social institutions
access. Depth indicates power. The bank manager is deeper than the
with forms of knowledge and production. This is the sense in which Hillier and
clerks, and the consultant deeper than the nurse. The person with the
Hanson suggest that genotypes embody a Social Logic of Space.
greatest power is at the tip of a tree, reached through the corridors, stairs,
outer and inner offices and waiting lobbies.”
3
The primary form of syntax analysis proceeds from a technique of mapping
buildings into a cellular structure using the external entry points as a base.
In one kind of building however, according to Markus, this normal
The building plan is translated into a structural diagram of how life and power
relationship is inverted. The visitors are deep within, placed under heavy
relations are framed within it. The linear structure is a string of spatial
surveillance, increasing depth signifying decreasing power, and the
segments in sequence, known in architecture as the enfilade. There is no
inhabitants in a shallow, often ringy, zone at the surface controlling access to
choice of pathway from one segment to another. The ringy or looped
the deeper parts. These are Foucault’s disciplinary institutions (identified
structure is the opposite inasmuch as it connects segments to each other in a
within his seminal text “Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison” – the
network, with multiple choices of pathway. A fan (or branching) structure
prisons, hospitals, asylums and workhouses which form a considerable part of
controls access to a range of spaces from a single segment, like a corridor or
Markus’ discussions within “Buildings and Power.”
a
a
c
c
b
c
d
hallway. In practice nearly all buildings are structured in combinations of
these basic syntactic structures.
A key dimension of syntactic analysis is the degree of ‘ringiness/freedom’
1.
Hillier, Bill., Hanson, Julienne. (1984) The social logic of space, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.
2.
Dovey, Kim. (1999) Framing places : mediating power in built form. London: Routledge.
3.
Markus, Thomas. A. (1993) Buildings and Power, London: Routledge. pp.15-16.
Threshold variants:
versus ‘control’. To what extent are spatial segments interconnected by
looping pathways as opposed to being controlled by a linear or branching
As part of our cross studio reviews prior to Christmas we undertook a detailed
syntax? The degree of ‘control’ or power of a given cell or room is the degree to
analysis of all forms of power within the arts tower, whether organisational,
which access to other cells must pass through it. Thus, for example, a hallway
economic, social or spatial. Part of this focussed on the spatial thresholds
or foyer which is the only access to a cluster of rooms has a high level of
outlined above using the general office on floor 14 (shown graphically right).
control over the flow of everyday life. Whereas the linear structure
A full qualitative version can be found on the studio ning website.
Image source: www.banksy.co.uk
-
doors
desks
walls
people
(x4)
(x3)
(x2)
(x5)
a
b
c
d
CASE STUDY 001 - THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT
31
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
32
32
32
32
32
32
32
32
32
32
32
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
18
31
15
16
16
16
16
16
16
16
17
12
13
14
10
11
power level 5
35
power level 4
34
power level 3
30
separate controlled access for official building users
22
32
29
21
23
29
30
17
24
office layouts provide a sequence of thresholds, door, desk etc.
15
13
D
A
H
E
B
G
H
C
D
Image source: www.banksy.co.uk
the reception desk in the foyer prevents unauthorised entry by ‘strangers’
power level 8
power level 7
21
power level 6
E
H
F
A
5
4
24
6
4
5
7
8
9
“Spaces can be so linked that communication is free and frequent, making possible dense encounters between classes, groups and individuals. These are the basis for community, friendship and
solidarity. The alternative is controlled movement, under surveillance, for narrowly defined purposes of production…buildings always have double meanings in making concrete both power and bonds.”
E
F
A
F
Thomas. A. Markus
GENOTYPE 1
H
G
E
D
G
F
C
D
A
B
B
GENOTYPE 2
spatial syntax analysis of the levels of control + permeable thresholds within the scottish parliament
A
F
B
D
E
the building’s primary threshold is the main public entrance,
yet the spatial control of the structure begins in the
landscape of the immediate vicinity, access routes, views
towards etc etc.
23
power level 1
1
9
3
33
32
0
0
the high perimeter wall clearly demarcates private domain
32
public visitor zone (also shown on floor plan opposite)
C
8
32
power level 2
B
2
6
20
32
1
C
20
7
19
32
denotes private access route
G
12
10
22
32
2
spatial syntax variants
35
11
19
25
32
denotes public access route
34
14
18
3
increased control space
25
heavy fencing and security to the private access perimeter
26
limited control space
26
16
27
32
28
public access is permitted into the debating chamber
27
28
32
power level 9
32
B
C
D
G
C
H
A
E
H
G
F
G
F
A
B
C
H
D
E
GENOTYPE 3
H
G
E
C
B
A
F
D
GENOTYPE 4
1.
Public Entrance
7.
Committee Room 1
13. Offices
19. Garden Terrace
25. Public Gallery
31. Landing
2.
Foyer / Reception
8.
Committee Room 2
14. Garden Foyer
20. Private Restaurant
26. Committee Room 3
32. Msp’s Offices
3.
Cafe
9.
Support Offices
15. Support Rooms
21. Landing
27. Committee Room 4
33. Boundary Wall
4.
Shop
10. Circulation
16. Queensberry Offices
22. Tower 3
28. Chamber Entrance
34. Canongate
5.
Circulation
11. Private Entrance
17. Circulation
23. Tower 4
29. Offices / Circulation
35. Politician’s Entrance
6.
Daycare Facility
12. Offices
18. Msp’s Offices
24. Landing
30. Debating Chamber
DOCUMENTING + AUDITING
TESTING POWER RELATIONS
In addition to the verbal and physical endeavours that would
We had started to broaden and intensify our understandings of
inevitably arise with Studio 9, there also gradually developed an
power in a theoretical sphere - but as a Studio we were becomingly
increasingly crucial element of the virtual in our work. The Studio
increasingly aware of the absence of any real physical
TRIALS IN SPACE - TUTORIALS
WEEK 4 ANALYSIS - FLOOR FUDDLE
The studio met to discuss our research into the philosophy of
12/11/08 Meeting #01
week 001
educational
Props:
Named place-settings
week 004
community
power. The layout of the room resulted in a discussion that was
much less formal and divided than the meeting of the previous
pin
India As
Lukas
Barry
Standing - signifies power over the audience.
established a ning website to allow the continual and
understanding as to the mechanisms of power. Our readings had
documented flow, exchange, recording and storage of ideas
clarified that power, albeit a capacity - is ultimately more
throughout the life of the academic year.
fundamentally concerned with relationships between people,
week. Below are statistics relating to the communication within the
The position facing the audience enables a
clear views of others in the room
meeting.
and these relationships are framed physically within space.
The ning is a collaborative webspace, editable by all members and
Tutor
accessible to external visitors via a standard search engine or direct
So how may the spaces we create determine how we behave? How
hit. It is different to a blog because it has a non-linear structure and
can space be appropriated or modified to allow power relations to
does not operate in a chronological format, allowing threads and
amplify, reduce or dissolve? In order to tackle these questions and
subject areas to be created more seemlessly.
more we decided to undertake an ongoing research experiment
aimed at uncovering and highlighting how spatial and
Initially we were unsure as to the specific intended purpose of the
blog, in its infancy it existed merely as a “lets give it a try” scenario
2
Students
India
8
ing later in the meeting,
1
11
Sarah
Bottom: Table / graph of comments arranged spatially. The number
20/11/08 Meeting #02
week 002
conference
Props:
Hot & cold refreshments
and snacks, for comfort.
Noise
Name-tags (rather than
place settings)
In each session we aimed at addressing and
Hello, my name is...
, my
6
Ben
Tea Point
of comments does show a weak correlatelation with the seating
Anna
position within the room - the members nearer to the ‘safe’ corner
Ewan
spoke more often.
Steve
Florian
Hello
Dave Sparks
12
4
Door ajar...
is...
name
10
7
Tessa
h
ra
sa
and in the preliminary few weeks of studio the ning occupied an
number of comments shows a trend of increase for those present-
Jonny
3
Lukas
programmatic set-ups can ultimately (potentially) result in
empowerment.
9
5
Kyle
Top: Table / graph of comments arranged in presentation order. The
Dave
Natalie
Seated position with everyone oriented
towards the front means communication between
members of the group is restricted.
varying certain specific aspects from week to week, these included;
In conclusion this arrangement was an useful experiment as it
uncertain and grey position between a social networking site
demonstrates the effect of a less rigid structure withina circular
where we would informally discuss ideas and post notifications - or
-
general purpose of the meeting
fluctuated to represent a more formal archive or depository for our
-
structure of the meeting
developing body of work.
-
form / mode of communication within the meeting
of the increased eye contact between members and the ability for
-
media + technology used
members to position their seats.
By the Christmas holiday the ning had established itself as the
much more open discussion. I would consider that this was a result
27/11/08 Meeting #03
which ranged from the houses of parliament to the “Dragon’s Den.”
as diverse as Canada to France. It is the intention that once
Each full analysis can be found on the Studio 9 ning website. We
individual explorations begin to come to fruition, the ning’s role will
found that as expected, spatial configuration would ultimately
evolve further into an virtual arena for crit, advice and sharing.
influence behaviour to a certain extent.
le
Ky
was providing some interesting visitor statistics from destinations
Team A
2
Ind
During week 3, for
ia
conversation were intensified if the aggressor was directly opposite
8
Lukas
Team B
that power is all about details, not matter how trivial - the location
3
ssa
4
11/12/08 Meeting #05
week 005
corporate pitch
Props:
Florian
Tea Point
any given spatial setup.
ve
Ste
these are factors which may govern how empowered we are within
Hot & cold refreshments
and snacks, for comfort.
6
0
n
Door ajar...
An
na
12
Te
an
Ew
proximity to the door, body language within chair etc etc, all of
10
7
Noise
Sarah
11
any individual. Another interesting revelation was the realisation
of an individual in relation to the kettle and drink facilities,
y
nn
Jo
9
5
1
instance, our analysis revealed that defensive responses during
www.studio9empowerment.ning.com
Da
ve
The majority of spatial set ups were based upon true precedents
week 003
parliamentary
Natalie
primary form of communication between the group members and
formation. Compared to last week - the Oppositions - there was
All actors are positioned in a circular arrangement, allowing for maximum
eye-contact and communication. No one person is identified by any different position, encouraging equality within the group.
Be
NING-ING
13
26
To conclude - it seems appropriate to suggest that space and
architecture are in fact tools and resources of power.
Image source: www.banksy.co.uk
co
m
m
presenter
This tutorial was in the immediate aftermath of our walks around
sheffield, during which we actively searched for various examples of
power within Sheffield’s urban fabric. Initially intended as a ‘Dragon’s
Den’ scenario whereby each student would pitch their findings to a
panel, the meeting instead evolved more into a typical crit based
environment, however the intimidation intention of isolated
individual vs the remainder still prevailed.
panel
en
ts
Name
Order
India
Kyle
Lukas
Ben
Natalie
Steve
Tessa
Jonny
Dave
Anna
Sarah
Ewan
Florian
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Name
Order
India
Kyle
Natalie
Dave
Jonny
Sarah
Anna
Ewan
Steve
Florian
Ben
Tessa
Lukas
1
2
5
9
8
11
10
12
6
4
7
3
Number of comments made
24
8
24
20
14
16
13
19
26
19
21
24
26
Number of comments made
24
8
14
26
19
21
19
24
16
26
20
13
24
CROSS - CULTURAL BOUNDARIES
Buildings do not only convey meaning
through materiality, form and scale but also through control.
p
6
Buildings
such Law Courts, Places of Worship,
loc
at
i
o
a
nm
Hospitals and Prisons all “speak” to us
and control us in different ways. The
entry procedure into any building, and
the associated rituals and restrictions -
Blue Mosque, Istanbul Historic Quarter
whether it be a mosque, hospital or
prison becomes a fundamental factor
in
influencing
the
degree
of
oppression or liberation we may
experience as users or occupants of
the building. These ‘first impressions’
1
7
are a pivotal tool in the exercise of
power through built form.
8
During the Istanbul visit I undertook a
qualitative study of the entry sequence
5
of the Blue Mosque, from first
impressions to internal spatial details,
as a method to inform the eventual
design of my project - within which I
4
aim
experiment
with
3
First level of control
100m
Second level of control
Third level of control
Fourth level of control
1. mosque
2. madrasa
3. mausoleum
4. elementary school
5. royal pavilion
6. hippodrome
7. garden platform
8. bazaar (arasta)
similar
techniques of control and freedom.
2
0
to
FIRST IMPRESSIONS - THE USE OF CONTROL IN ENTRY SEQUENCES (BLUE MOSQUE CASE STUDY)
Fifth level of control
pre
d
yar
ur t
-co
al
ritu
rt
cou
ds
yar
i
em
sp
blic
u
p
-
ace
sym
b
ng
nsi
le a
c
olic
y
ilit
fac
on
sec
ry
da
e
blic
pu
ntr
y
n
pri
le v
ci p
o
esh
thr
r
o
isit
ld
fo
rem
ear
w
t
o
ne
l zo
ova
blic
pu
ce
ran
ent
lo
enc
se
d fe
hip
ors
w
le
ma
m
en
op
ip
rsh
wo
e
l
a
WEEK 6 ANALYSIS - ARE YOU FEELING LUCKY??
se r
i
h
tly
en
es of case studies but pres
wh
o
un
de
e
a re a
ow r, we hav
lso fo
e
cussin on p
g
gi
o
n theories + phil
il
ol
it
i c a l d eb a t e.”
est
sions of p
o
c o
f
ivi
ial d
d
H
ie
boundar
spat
ul
s,
s
an
d
Sp
ac
e ’.
”
co
r s p a ti a
l
ds of
recommend the
an
metho
al
sis intro
du
y
ce
d
by
I
Image source: www.banksy.co.uk
df
ac
r
i ng a c e t r e
n
ya
n
fo
gn
r
im
i t a s t o i nt e ns i f
we
e e m s to
t s
de
pe
nd
heavily
on
th
re
sh
o
ld
i
d es
h
-t
mmin g
,r
io
t,
c
“ Yo u r p r oj e c
ntly
e
h
e
g ra
i a l p ro
at
p
m
urre
t
ba
g
ou
th
sp
hopin g
REVERSING POWER - 3rd YEAR PROJECT SWAP
ita t e
“I’
prot
ph
and d e
lt
revo
so
of power, and w
e’re
ies
help. ”
d
iller an
Th
in ‘
Hanson
c
e So
ial
gi
tutor group
rofound gr
e no p
ou
nd
in
av
r
ea
dy
rta
ke
na
thir
“We’re a
ents can
stud
rch
A
uM
yo
Lo
VISIONS OF CONTROL
POWER AS (LEGITIMATE) CAPACITY
FOUCAULT’S LIBERTIES
MEDIATING POWER IN BUILT FORM +
The first conception of power, as a simple capacity to act, is widely
Foucault, on the other hand insists it is crucial that we move away
employed in modern Western thought. In this understanding,
from obsessions with sovereignty and legitimacy. He makes clear
there is a sense in which social or political power is regarded as the
and concise redefinitions between power/government and
same kind of thing as electrical power or the power of a motor: it is
domination.
“
It’s clear that power should not be defined as a constraining act of violence that represses individuals,
Power is not lodged inertly in built form. Force, coercion, domination, manipulation,
forcing them to do something or preventing them from doing some other thing. But it takes place when there
built form. Such mediations are inherently complex and multi-dimensional and as a
is a relation between two free subjects, and this relation is unbalanced, so that one can act upon the other, and
mediations. These dimensions do not constitute a theory and they should not be read as
the other is acted upon.
conceived as a quantitative capacity that may be put to work for a
variety of purposes. People employ power in their dealings with
“We must distinguish the relationships of power as strategic games
things and with each other. In the latter case, this conception of
between liberties – strategic games that result in the fact that some
power implies that the wishes of those with more power will
people try to determine the conduct of others – and the states of
normally prevail over the wishes of those with less.
domination, which are what we ordinarily call power. And between
Michel Foucault. 1980.
”
seduction and authority are forms of everyday practice which are inevitably mediated by
beginning Kim Dovey (1999) suggests the following set of dimensions of place/power
deterministic;
1
the spatial framings of everyday life. It constructs a cognitive map through which we imagine
our world and give it our attention.
2
domination, you have governmental technologies.”
3
private.
3
In this instance Foucault conceives of power in terms of a ‘structure
4
4
bearing on the actions of those that are free. Power
exercised. In this light, power is still therefore a capacity, but one
of actions’
which operates primarily on the basis of its legitimacy. Parsons
can only be exercised over those who are in a position to choose,
distinguishes power from force, persuasion and other means that
that is, whose own behaviour is not wholly determined by
may be used in the attempt to get others to conform to some
physical constraints, and power thus aims to influence what their
desired course of action. He also uses such an analysis to illustrate
choices will be. To insist, as Foucault does, that the exercise of
how the amount of power within any fixed society or individual
power requires a degree of freedom on the part of its subjects is to
should not be seen as a fixed quantity.
say, firstly, that the effective exercise of power need not imply the
removal of liberty. On the contrary, in Foucault’s view, where there
“The power available to a society at any given time will depend on
• Segregation/access. Boundaries and pathways can segregate places by status, gender, race,
culture, class and age, creating privileged enclaves of access, amenity and community.
alternative considerations of power, notably as a conception
fundamentally dependent on the consent of those over whom it is
• Publicity/privacy. Built form segments space in a manner that places certain kinds of people
and action under conditions of surveillance while privileging other kinds of people and action as
the two, between the games of power and the states of
Theorists such as Parsons and Arendt have illustrated many
• Orientation/disorientation. Built form can orient, disorient and reorient its subjects through
is no possibility of resistance there can be no relations of power.
• Nature/history. Built form inevitably uses metaphor and constructs mythology through a
politics of representation. Historically constructed meanings can be ‘naturalized’ to legitimize
authority.
5
• Stability/change. Built form produces illusions of permanence, of a stable social order, of the
impossibility of change. Likewise, images of dynamism and innovation can produce illusions of
progress.
6
• Identity/difference. Places symbolize socially constructed identities and differences—of
persons, cultures, institutions and nations. The politics of identity and difference is mediated in
an arena of spatial representation and the inertia of buildings can ‘fix’ identity over time.
7
• Authentic/fake. We inhabit a world saturated with simulacra and representation. The quest for
authenticity is a quest for authority, enmeshed in issues of power. enmeshed in issues of power.
the capacity of that society to generate and to sustain amongst its
members the belief that the actions of those in positions of
authority are indeed legitimate.”
1
In summary, Parsons’ understanding of power lies in the idea that
1.
Hindess, B. 1996: Discourses of Power. From Hobbes to Foucault. Oxford; Blackwells.
2.
Ibid.
3.
Ibid.
4.
Foucault, M. 1980; Power/Knowledge. Brighton: Harvester.
8
necessary to its production. Relative scale in mass or volume, cannot be divorced from
discourses of domination and intimidation.
the consent of its subjects provides an authority with the capacity
to make use of their actions. Hobbes elaborates on the idea of
consent, saying that we have become accustomed to entrusting
others to become ‘the author of one’s actions,’
2
assigning to them
– under our own conscious will – a plethora of rights and
responsibilities, or authority.
Studio 9’s initial explorations were heavily focussed on theoretical readings
around the broad subject area of power + empowerment. As individuals we
researched the key philosophers and thinkers who had contributed to
discourses of power throughout history. Each individual generated their own
thread of interest from week to week and these threads were presented,
discussed and debated during our weekly tutorial sessions. In order to make
these often complex and intense findings more leglible we decided as a group to
represent the core points of our weeks research graphically through posters.
The complete studio 9 poster booklet accompanies this portfoliio.
• Dominant/docile. A dominant built mass or volume signifies the control over resources
9
• Place/ideology. The experience of place has the capacity to move us deeply, to ‘ground’ our
being, to open the question of ‘spirit’. Yet the very potency of place experience renders it
particularly vulnerable to the ideological appropriations of power.
Source: Dovey, Kim. (1999) Framing places : mediating power in built form. London: Routledge.
SURVEILLANCE IS BORN
In Discipline and Punish, Michel Foucault argues that - in contradiction to the essentially negative and
THE GAZE OF POWER
Bentham’s Panopticon
Above Right:
“It was while I was studying the origins of clinical medicine. I had been planning a study of hospital architecture in
the second half of the eighteenth century, when the great movement for the reform of medical institutions was
sovereign-centred view of power - in the modern era power is productive of knowledge and knowledge is
productive of power. Power is not simply a global relation between the sovereign, who is the source of
Presidio Modelo, Isla de Pinos, Cuba is one of many
prohibitive power, and the subjects who are the subordinate of this power. Power does not proceed
modern prisons modelled on Bentham’s design
Middle Right:
getting under way. I wanted to find out how the medical gaze was institutionalised, how it was effectively
inscribed in social space, how the new form of the hospital was at once the effect and the support of a new type of
gaze.
downwards from a single centre. Rather, the power relation Foucault is concerned with has no simple centre
but is diffused throughout the whole social body in complex networks and diverse relations. In light of this
Edinburgh’s Bridewell was one of the first
he considers all sites where power may be exercised in a state which isn’t so typically repressive; in this he
examples to employ the radial inspection principle
Bottom Right:
In examining the series of different architectural projects which followed the second fire at the Hotel-Dieu in 1772,
includes hospitals, insane asylums, schools, and so on, all considered by Foucault to be centres of
I noticed how the whole problem of visibility of bodies, individuals and things, under a system of centralised
power-knowledge.
observation, was one of their most constant directing principles. In the case of the hospitals this general problem
involves a further difficulty: it was necessary to avoid undue contact, contagion, physical proximity and
In order to consider such forms, Foucault introduces this concept of ‘disciplinary power’. The essence of such
overcrowding, while at the same time ensuring ventilation and circulation of air, at once dividing space up and
power is not repressive force but ‘surveillance’. The surveillance of subjects is deemed to be a crucial mode
keeping it open, ensuring a surveillance which would be both global and individualising while at the same time
in which they are transformed. Surveillance requires both knowledges and institutions ordered by
carefully separating the individuals under observation. For some time I thought all these problems were specific to
knowledge for its functioning. It depends on the isolation and specification of individuals from social
eighteenth-century medicine and its beliefs.
collectives and one another. Their conduct is then brought under continuous inspection in such a way that
they too become a resource for power.
Then while studying the problems of the penal system, I noticed that all the great projects for re-organising the
prisons (which date, incidently, from a slightly later period, the first half of the nineteenth century) take up this
same theme, but accompanied this time by the almost invariable reference to Bentham. There was scarcely a text
THE PANOPTICON - A LESSON IN ROUTINE + ORDER
or a proposal about the prisons which didn't mention Bentham's 'device' - the 'Panopticon'
The principle was this. A perimeter building in the form of a ring. At the centre of this, a tower, pierced by large
The panopticon provides a concentrated focus for Foucault’s attempts to delineate the principles of a
windows opening on to the inner face of the ring. The outer building is divided into cells each of which traverses
disciplinary society. It was a physical manifestation of the search for optimal control, a tower from which
the whole thickness of the building. These cells have two windows, one opening on to the inside, facing the
institutional inmates could be observed and, through their internalisation of the belief that they were
windows of the central tower, the other, outer one allowing daylight to pass through the whole cell. All that is then
constantly being monitored, controlled. Panopticon principles were devised for what we would now
needed is to put an overseer in the tower and place in each of the cells a lunatic, a patient, a convict, or a
describe as total institutions such as prisons but the idea was applicable to a range of different organisations.
schoolboy. The back lighting enables one to pick out from the central tower the little captive silhouettes in the ring
In Foucault’s words, ‘Prisons resemble factories, schools, barracks, hospitals, which all resemble prisons’ They
of cells. In short, the principle of the dungeon is reversed; daylight and the overseer's gaze capture the inmate
are designed ‘to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the
more effectively than darkness, which afforded after all a sort of protection.
automatic functioning of power. Bentham [the panopticon’s chief proponent] laid down the principle that
power should be visible and unverifiable. Visible: the inmate will constantly have before their eyes the tall
... We are talking about two things here: the gaze and interiorisation. And isn't it basically the problem of the cost
outline of the central tower from which he is spied upon. Unverifiable: the inmate must never know whether
of power? In reality power is only exercised at a cost. Obviously, there is an economic cost, and Bentham talks
he is being looked at any one moment; but he must be sure that he always will be so.
about this. How many overseers will the Panopticon need? How much will the machine then cost to run? But there
is also a specifically political cost. If you are too violent, you risk provoking revolts...In contrast to that you have the
The Panopticon became Bentham’s obsession and he painstakingly worked out every detail, proposing
system of surveillance, which on the contrary involves very little expense. There is no need for arms, physical
one-way listening tubes, individual cell sanitation, ducted heating and cooling, and remote control sun
violence, material constraints. Just a gaze. An inspecting gaze, a gaze which each individual under its weight will
blinds. The tower was to be in darkness so that the inmate could not see whether they were being surveilled
end by interiorisation to the point that he is his own overseer, each individual thus exercising this surveillance over,
or not, whilst the backlit cells rendered their occupants continuously visible to the invisible governor.
and against, himself. A superb formula: power exercised continuously and for what turns out to be minimal cost.”
Bentham referred to this as the ‘power of the gaze’ and the name Panopticon is from the Greek for ‘all-seeing’.
Image source:
source: www.banksy.co.uk
www.banksy.co.uk
Image
Foucault described this highly unequal power relationship as having the effect of inducing the inmate into a
state of “conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power”.
Excerpt from Michel Foucault, The Eye of Power (1974)
THE IMPOSSIBLE PRISON
ent wherever torture is deemed necessary. Rigid sup
port stru
Situate equipm
cture w
ill ens
ure v
ictim
sca
p
ea
nd
Prison’ - an event held by Nottingham Contemporary. Which had a
sys
tem
particular emphasis on the suffering and supplice, the torture of the body
dis
a
ss
e
and incarceration in general.
m
bl
e
Sixteen international artists become “inmates” in The Impossible
Prison, an exhibition in an atmospheric abandoned police station.
or t
sp
Inspired by Discipline and Punish, the extraordinarily influential book
by the philosopher Michel Foucault, the exhibition explores power,
control and surveillance, increasingly a part of all our lives.
t
Some artists specifically address prison itself (Hunt, Farocki, Zmijewski). In
addition three legendary figures of Conceptual art in the late 1960s and
1970s (Acconci, Graham, Nauman) explore the relationship of the camera to
the body.
tf
ac
ei
nt
om
uz
zle
.E
ns
ur
es
As a studio we attended an exhibition in November entitled ‘The Impossible
an
f tr
re
sa
abl
e to
e
o
se
ea
or
sf
p
ra
an
ed
en
t
h
tig
g
tin
ti a
u
r
xc
de
.
ful
ain
p
y
l
q
If re
ring torture to relieve ag
ony
o r k du
m ew
a
r
f
p
i
r
g
d,
uire
is u
n
Ins
er
Foucault, in a communiqué on behalf of Group d’Information sur les Prisons
wrote “prison these days begins long before the prison gates”. He closes
Discipline and Punish (1975) with a vision of a society where bodies were
forcibly redistributed and minds were moulded. Resistance was minimised
and productivity maximised through new surveillance techniques.
The Impossible Prison evokes the contemporary ‘carceral’, as Foucault called
it, on both micro- and geopolitical scales - from the ‘architecture of
occupation’ in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (Multiplicity; Weizman), to the
SUFFERING + SUPPLICE IN THE ANCIEN RÉGIME
ubiquitous CCTV cameras on our city streets (Anand); from the exercise of
disciplinary techniques in the modern office (Hatchuel and Starkey), to the
privatization and expansion of America’s ‘prison industrial complex’ (Hunt)
In stark contrast to the strategic, reform facilities of the Panopticon, the concept of regime had an ugly predecessor. This alternative form of power relations and
whose population has reached a staggering two million. The range of
punishment is perhaps best represented by the world of imaginary prisons in Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s Carceri. These illustrate an architecture of supplice.
concerns reflects artists who come from or live in Palestine, Mumbai, Paris,
New York, Los Angeles, Beirut, Brussels, Rotterdam, Berlin, Warsaw and
Supplice is the form of exemplary punishment meted out by the monarch under the ancien regime for a regicide, parricide, traitor or other serious malefactor, such
Milan.
crimes were a direct attack on patriarchal power - seen as the most vital part of political order during the 18th Century. These crimes were an affront to the power of
the sovereign and were encountered by a demonstration of the sovereign’s dominion in the systematic destruction of the body of the offender in torture and
execution. Supplice thus fits directly with a conception of power and repression and a capacity exclusively possessed by the sovereign. Discipline and Punish opens
Following the event, we also attended a lecture by Guardian columnist
with a contrast between the spectacle of the execution of a regicide in 1757 and a prison timetable for a juvenile reformatory eighty years later. These contrasting
and ex-prisoner Erwin James, whose provocative and insightful
examples show two quite distinct regimes of punishment and power.
account of ‘life on the inside’ helped me to reevaluate my
preconceptions of the role of incarceration, the rights of prisoners and
4c
m
In the illustration, wretched individuals groan under the instruments of torture, and tiny figures are lost admist the lattice work of bridges, the immense machines
23
5
These imaginary prisons have no rationalised or evident plan. Rather, they serve to make arbitary power expressive and visible through the sheer mass of the
structure, which dwarfs the inmates. Such prisons are sites for torture, incarceration and exemplary punishment and are quite different from the ordered cells
pervaded by light of the Panopticon.
Piranesi’s prisons are nothing less than a picture of the darkness the Enlightenment critics perceived to be the essence of the ancien regime: they are at once a closed
and dark space and, at the same time, an immense planless open space open to the gaze of the spectator and expressive of an awesome arbitrary power, enclosing
the victims and forever isolating them in the grip of repressive power. They are a gloomy stage for arbitrary punishment, for the excesses of torture and injustice.
They are an image of what reformers found repellent in the prisons and tortures of the time.
the place of prisons within a wider community.
x8
and vast decorative features. The prison is a grotesque theatre for torture, an imaginary structure which intimidates subjects by its bulk and monumental brutality.
M
TATIANA TROUVÉ Untitled, 2007
d
an
her
t
a
le
etal,
y
ox
ep
p
t, 1
ain
x
87
During the exhibition I became particularly interested by the ideas of Ashley
Hunt, who focussed on the emergence of the private prison sector, and the
gradual evolution of imprisonment into a ‘for profit’ industry and the
implications this may have. I envisage my individual explorations will follow
a similar theme.
Evan Holloway
THE GALLERY OF JUSTICE
Power (2005), Capital (2005)
Power suggests an individual subjected to technological surveillance, although it uses rudimentary forms – including a blob-person, made of plaster and spent batteries. A mysterious blue
beam sheds a sinister light. In Capital, small naked human figures are shafted by a steel, tree-like structure. Hierarchies, of people, power and knowledge are often described as trees,
whether in “staff trees” or “branches of knowledge”. Evan’s two sculptures could be three dimensional caricatures of “disciplinary” power, strictly regulating human behaviour in both time
“PRISON CONTINUES, ON THOSE WHO ARE ENTRUSTED TO IT, A
and space.
WORK BEGUN ELSEWHERE, WHICH THE WHOLE OF SOCIETY
PURSUES ON EACH INDIVIDUAL THROUGH INNUMERABLE
MECHANISMS OF DISCIPLINE.”
Atelier Van Lieshout
Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish, 1975
The Disciplinator (2002), Mess (2002), Work (2002), The Latrine (2002), Dormitory (2002)
The Disciplinator is an example of one of AVL’s social blueprints. It illustrates the workings of the “disciplinary” society that Foucault describes. Based on multiples of four, it is used 24 hours
a day by 72 slaves working in shifts. Their only purpose is to reduce trees to sawdust. Disciplinator is a nightmare image of what Foucault called “biopower”, where lives are perpetually
supervised through mathematically precise divisions of time and space.
THREADS
FOUCAULT
Vito Acconci
DISCIPLINE + PUNISH
Centers (1971), Face Off (1973), Visions of a Disappearance (1973)
In Centers, Vito Acconci fights exhaustion to maintain his fiercely accusatory pose, his pointing finger directly implicating the viewer. Who is the subject of this effortful observation, and
who the judge? Face Off establishes a tense equilibrium between revelation and repression. Can an individual ever truly secede from a remorseless public gaze?
DISCIPLINE + PUNISH
SUPPLICE
DISCIPLINARY POWER
THE IMPOSSIBLE PRISON
Harun Farocki
I Thought I Was Seeing Convicts (2000)
Harun Farocki’s films are often a critical reflection on film itself and its relationship to power, particularly how film makes the world visible and structures our understanding of events. The
camera can be used as an “Eye of Power”, to borrow the title of an interview with Foucault. I Thought I Was Seeing Convicts was made using footage from a maximum security prison in
California and provides graphic footage of two inmates being shot dead by guards during a confrontation in the exercise yard.
SURVEILLANCE + OBSERVATION
ASHLEY HUNT
PRISON PRIVATISATION
Ashley Hunt
Corrections (2001), Prison Maps (2002), Footnotes (2002 - 2006)
Hunt is interested in how people understand, respond to and conceive of themselves within power structures. Using video, photography and mapping, his work has included
investigations into the prison system, the demise of the welfare state, war, and disaster capitalism. The Corrections Documentary Project began with Corrections, a 56 minute feature
SOCIAL ORDER + INEQUALITY
documentary that examines the relationship between the privatisation of US prisons and the steep growth in the prison population since the 1970s. An industry has been created in which
a whole network of businesses, professionals and politicians profit. Corrections looks at how criminalising and imprisoning people maintains an established social order based upon
economic, racial and gender based inequalities. Foucault made the same connection.
MARGINAL PRISONER GROUPS
Tatiana Trouvé
Untitled (2005), Untitled (2007), Untitled (2005), Untitled, from the Series Untranquility (2007)
Tatiana Trouvé’s more recent work is larger, suggesting contraptions designed to work with or against the body. Made from both tough and sensuous materials, they could belong to a
Image source: www.banksy.co.uk
factory or bedroom, gym or dungeon. The function of her sculpture shown here is obscure, other than to constrain. Perhaps it is a set of muzzles for huge beasts.