★ The Panoptic Bedroom Project ★

The Panoptic Bedroom Project is an interactive art project based around a website. Styled as a social experiment , it has been in development for the last three months. So far we have the core of the website designed and built , with a live video stream. The project investigates the blurring of the private and public space that has occurred as our lives are increasingly being published and on open display in the online arena. A camera is sending a 24/7 live video stream of a person's bed to the world wide web for all to see as a symbol of the private space that we have made public. We have got this far ourselves but with your help we can make this project truly interactive.

Like the Panopticon, a prison designed by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th century. The watchmen will be able to watch the inmates with out being able to tell if they are being watch or not. The viewer of the website will have total control with the ability even to control the lighting interactively. Along side other elements we are only limited by our development funding.

We have learnt alot by programming the website ourselves to save money.

► However we can not fulfil our aims of the project to be truly interactive without your support. So please take a look at our aims below. ☟

Sample of the site in action below. Here you can see the camera in night vision mode, as the lights are off.

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Still awake at 2:24am? www.panopticbedroom.com

Since the subject of the film is awake during the day. It is best to view the website in the evening or morning.

However we can not fulfil our aims of the project to be truly interactive without your support

Our aim is to have the project be truly interactive.

►The viewer of the website will have the panoptic ability not just to view the room 24/7 live. He or she will be able to control the light switch at will through the website

►Right now the frame rate of the live stream is one frame a second. However with your support we will be able have to use Adobe Media Server 5 to broadcast amazing video streaming with a high frame rate for smooth watching!

The subject will have no control over the camera installation, website administration or interactive lighting equipment.

From the start date the project will run continuously for 365 days using a time counter. If funding allows the project could go along for longer than the 365 day minimum.

INTERACTIVE WEBSITE

Human behaviour is often dictated by the space which is occupied. When a space is defined as public, naturally formal behaviour is appropriate. So, what happens when your bedroom (the most personal space of all) becomes akin to a public park or high street? This project is here to demonstrate the contradictions and complexities of behaviour when public and private life intersects.

►We need your investment to take the project to the next level. Our aim is to have the subjects bedroom light controllable via the website. So anybody on the website can turn the light on or off.

The clock within each frame corresponds to the time of the bedrooms location. The camera will automatically change from colour images to night vision depending on the lighting situation.

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WEBSITE - www.panopticbedroom.com

EMAIL - panopticbedroom@gmail.com

Projet de la Chambre Panoptique

The publications