PANOPTICON
PANOPTICON (2018), Sala Diaz Gallery, San Antonio, Texas.
The panoptic mechanism arranges spatial unities that make it possible to see constantly and to recognize immediately. In short, it reverses the principle of the dungeon; or rather of its three functions—to enclose, to deprive of light and to hide—it preserves only the first and eliminates the other two.
-Michel Foucault
One day while choreographing, the image of me kneeling before a metronome became present in my mind. I have pondered this image and carried that moment with me for fifteen years, knowing that it was the impetus for a work I would someday create. I began to form this idea of the metronome as an omniscient, panoptic entity that reigns over my time in life. The choreography for PANOPTICON is derived from the study of critical moments and central figures in my life. In order to attempt to get to the essence of a subject, I will represent each with only three gestures—a difficult attempt to eliminate extraneous movement. For example, how do I choreograph the essence of “Mother” in just three movements? The stripping away of the extraneous is simultaneously an act of revealing. The process of revealing is a theme in the work as I offer what is usually unseen. Journal entries, choreographic studies and research for the work will be on view, acting as homage to a theatrical backdrop. The staging of the work is illuminated through a path laid by floor tape in the gallery during the performance. Although removing is an act of revealing, if repeated, an accumulation occurs. I see my time and work at Sala Diaz as a type of living “hive.” Cyclical in nature, I will not only perform on opening night, but will return to the space at various times throughout my five-week exhibition to continue my performance; essentially, returning to work on my hive.
-Britt Lorraine, May 2018