Date of Award

1996

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts Honours

School

Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA)

Faculty

Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA)

First Supervisor

Dr Neville Weston

Abstract

This thesis outlines an investigation of Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon Design that identifies the mechanisms of power which are found to be inherent characteristics within new surveillance technologies. The study includes a discussion of the Perth City Council's implementation of the surveillance program in October 1991 including a detailed analysis of the cultural centre public space. Material provided by Gerard Martinet from the City of Perth, and the Security Industry helped establish a factual ground to form the basis of the investigation. I have sourced a number of academic texts from university libraries, particularly Murdoch University, Curtin University and The University of Western Australia. These texts have offered a broad reading and position from which to start the theoretical framework. I explore Foucault's post structuralist texts by qualitative methodology and comparative analysis, drawing discussion to new surveillance technologies and their impact and use within the City of Perth. A discussion on the decline of the city gave reference to Stanley Cohen for an assessment of the state of society and the current justifications for surveillance technologies. I then identify artists who show how it is appropriate for them to produce work that deals with socio-political concerns and issues that function as social commentary.

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