Project Dance with Bentham is a long-term project I am working on since 2015. I use the surveillance system of museums and other public spaces to document my short performances.

In his book Crime and Punishment, Foucault wrote about Bentham, whom established the panoptic principle – everything must be visible. I know I am being observed and I want the observer to know that. 

I do unexpected actions and bring unconventional items to the space I occupy to question the way we behave in them. The spaces I use are public, from cultural institutions to transitional spaces. In the performances I focus on movement, rythm and exploration of my own body in a public space. 

The project deals with the “unnoticed” surveillance systems that are with us everywhere and knowingly-or not direct the way we move and behave in a public space. The footage gets archived for a period of time and never to be seen by the individuals that get documented in their range. The collected date is not valued and is usually deleted after a period of time.

I play with the systems that observe us and perform for the observer. I do everything unconventional in the public space and create looped videos that are published online – and this way remain in the public spere forever.

It is hard to comprehend how much traces we leave behind ourselves in the digital economy and I play with that and accept it in my own terms – then I manipulate it (edit the footage) to create my own storyline. I also need the observer as much as he needs me.