Society of Narcissism
Studierendenprojekt, Voluptas, 2019
mit Sascha Gsell
The proposal aims to grasp the notion of monitoring in todays society making it an agent of the project. The act of monitoring has had a specific influence on society overtime, as depicted in ‘Society of Discipline’ by Michel Foucault followed, the ‘Society of Control’ by Gilles Deleuze or the ‘Society of the Spectacle’ written by Guy Debord. The shift in those societal changes expresses itself, as we see it, in the individuals’ positions towards monitoring and control, from ‘common’ to ‘self-’.
We have vanished into the screens of an unreal world, come back out and let the screens follow us into our world. We thus declare self-monitoring to be the ultimate state of monitoring, one where individuals are no longer passively subdued to but actively constituting it. We are our own images. The history outlined above culminates in a ‘Society of Narcissism’, in which everyone is mainly and only relative to their own image.
Palladios Villa Rotonda represents the old understanding of self-representation through the act of watching over ones possessions. Its transformation binds it into a suburban context, which is exemplary for self-reflection through monitoring others property and ways of being. Conclusively, the Villa gets turned to its inside, portraying the mind of todays Narcissist.