Perspectives on Hyper-Realities: Simulacra and Shadows of Silent Gazes

Abstract

This paper explains the creation and interpretation of Shadows of Silent Gazes at public spaces in Accra and Kumasi, Ghana, in 2018. The installation is a simulation of a Benthamian–Foucauldian panopticon, employing Baudrillard's theory and making connections with Ghanaian folklore and beliefs. There is evidence of technologies of (re)production of imagery and different orders of simulacra in Ghanaian folklore. Using everyday consumable packages, the authors repurpose and (re)produce a series of cameras and argue that the means of (re)production and dissemination of images have surpassed their initial points of referral. At the heart of simulation is the metaphorical camera (simulacra), which cautions us of its new interpretation: the omnipresent panopticon, with its inescapable implicit gaze, surveillance, and exploits. The use of everyday consumable packaging to construct a simulacrum highlights how we are continuously monitored not only by security apparatuses but also by the goods and services we consume.