The origins of the panopticon

With their installation for the opening of la Gaîté lyrique, the United Visual Artists collective call attention to the notion of the “panopticon.” This architectural concept, which has become a metaphor for a society of surveillance as well as an aesthetic tool popular with artists, was originally considered progressive. Guillaume Mazeau, lecturer at the Institute for the History of the French Revolution, goes back to the origins of the panopticon to shed light on its recurring artistic appropriations.