La influencia del panóptico de Jeremy Bentham en el proyecto Tracking transience de Hasan Elahi

Abstract

In recent years, we have witnessed a considerable change in the relationship between the individual and the control and surveillance of urban space. This change is due to a situation of collective fear, either caused by the situation of insecurity that persists in cities today or by the obsession to know everything, to know any intimacy, who is doing it or what is happening. In today's technology-driven society, we are witnessing the incessant appearance of video surveillance cameras and CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) devices and the creation of new urban furniture with the use of these technological means. A current landscape in which the surveillance camera and the control over society is a tool in use in the architectural design of our contemporaneity. This proliferation became more evident in the cities of New York, Madrid and London after the tragic terrorist attacks, as a fundamental mechanism in the fight against crime and terrorism. With the intention of gaining control over the inhabitants of all countries, and thus achieving a certain degree of security, laws and regulations have arisen to maintain surveillance and control over the individual: their data, their personal situation, what movements and activities they carry out every day, and even their preferences and tastes. These laws aim to know everything about everyone and to achieve greater security. This surveillance society is directly influenced by Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon: in 2002 the artist Hasan Elahi's "Tracking Transience, The Orwell Project" was born as a response to the control and surveillance to which American society was being subjected after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.