The Panopticon

Surveillance is permanent in its effects, even if it is discontinuous in its action. Ten artists ask: what if being seen could become a reciprocal act of vulnerability?

Artists

Ashwariya Singla (Kala-Bhavana, Santiniketan), Laishram Membi Devi (Utkal University of Culture), Rajat Mandal (Bengal Finearts College), Ranjan (Rabindra Bharti University), Rittika Sen (Biswabangla Biswabidyalay), Sharmistha Das (Bengal Finearts College), Soumyaraj Acharya (Kala-Bhavana, Santiniketan), Sourav Saha (Kala-Bhavana, Santiniketan), Souti Hazra (College of Art & Design, Burdwan), Priyanka Khanduala (Govt. College of Art & Craft, Khallikote)

Medium

Mixed media – video, sound, cyanotypes, metal sculpture, digital prints, plant, fish net, saree, madur, paper casting, mount board sculpture, plastic mannequins, knitting, water from the Kochi site

Venue

Vallabhdas Kanji Limited (VKL) Warehouse, Mattancherry, Fort Kochi, Kerala

Timings

10AM to 6PM (Mon to Sunday)

Till March 31st, 2026

About

The Panopticon presents itself as a communal architecture of surveillance and contemplation, born from collective dialogue. Drawing on Foucault, this ten-artist collective questions transparency, authority, and self-discipline—redefining the panopticon as a social situation where seeing and being seen becomes reciprocal.

The installation unfolds as a 'Montage of Practices': growth against decay, domestic memory beside cultural surveillance, rituals intertwined with digital traces. Materials carry layered meanings—video, cyanotypes, metal sculpture, fish net, saree, madur mats, even water from the Kochi site itself.

Viewers shift roles—becoming voyeurs or surveilled depending on their position. An architecture of co-existence emerges where individuality and collectivity persist in dynamic tension.

Kochi Biennale 2025