The Great Eye Sees All

By Lauren Wun-Hym

Paris. Turn of the century. Smog filled city streets bustling with people. Queue the introduction of Walter Benjamin’s ‘Arcades Project’. Amidst the masses, teeming with sin and other treacherous activities, the flaneur walks through the crowds, an anonymous figure, noticed by none, yet seeing all, as much a part of his environment than a simple observer. Parisian arcades are created to control the masses of people. But these arcades are built for a reason. These Parisian arcades were created with the intention of controlling the flow of the masses and lighting the area, and so inducing the sense of a panopticon, where the individual would be under the impression that their actions were being watched.  This development in urbanism invited a change towards the definition of the flaneur, as now the flaneur embraced attention, walking pointedly yet with no destination, an image of splendour, and a spectacle to behold. (Prouty, 2009)

Image from: http://thecharnelhouse.org    

Yet it is interesting to consider that in online space and place in modern days, the flaneur has made an appearance. Lurking through the Internet anonymously, watching and observing, the flaneur is ever present as they were in 19th century Paris. Dr. Kuttainen (2015) argues that the ‘cyber-flaneur’ enjoys ambling through social space and drawing attention to themselves as a spectacle much like the flaneur in 19^th century Paris. Tumblr, for example, allows the cyber-flaneur to idly explore the vast reaches of blogs, images, videos and gifs, enabling the cyber-flaneur to observe from a distance while creating their own sense of identity through their personal space and place.  

The fore mentioned concept of the panopticon can be related to the cyber-flaneur as observed by Gaylene Barnes (1997) who argues that “the cyber-flaneur knows that they are also objects of a continuous scrutiny”, due to living in a surveillance society where all our actions are monitored. Barnes furthers the argument, noting that cyber-flaneur’s are aware of the possibility of being monitored, just as prison inmates would in a panopticon prison, which is a factor that may explain why the flaneur still flourishes – even in virtual reality, as the modern flaneur enjoys the attention, while also revelling in observing others. Perhaps, in a sense, we are all cyber-flaneurs; although we don't walk the streets of Paris while walking turtles, (Prouty, 2009) we all display ourselves, or a version of ourselves, on virtual space in order to gain attention, developing our sense of identity as we idly explore the vast reaches of the online space. 

References:

Arcades Project. (2015).  In Wikipedia. Retrieved August 19^th, 2015, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcades_Project

Barnes, G. (1997).  Passage of the Cyber-Flaneur. USA: Otago University.

Kuttainen, V. (2015). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives, and the Making of Place, Lecture 4: Maps. [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from: http://learnjcu.edu.au

Prouty, R. (2009).  A turtle on a leash. Retrieved from: http://www.onewaystreet.typepad.com/one_way_street/2009/10/a-turtle-on-a-leash.html

Picture Reference:

The Charnel-House. (n.d.). The Parisian Arcades. [Image]. Retrieved from: http://thecharnelhouse.org