Context

Anti-Panopticon is a performance lecture on the role of the prison as a form of social coercion that has been misrepresented in architectural history through the panoptic model, as philosopher Michel Foucault imagined it. Created in 2012 for the Museum of Freud’s Dreams in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the live performance took place alongside an installation of 15 prints by Lily Hibberd.

The lecture arose from comparative research into the Russian and Australian prison systems and their architectural roots. In Russia, it turns out the system is the same as in the Australia: one of solitary confinement, and the panoptic concept has been similarly misconstrued. The images in this talk and exhibition project echo this history.

Memory Projects