PANOPTICON vs DISCO
2026
Polyurethane-coated foam, CNC router-cut wood, paint, digital projections and soundtrack.
Artist: Miguel Romero-Trejos
Curators: Frank Willis Thomas & Jeremiah William McCarthy
Panopticon vs. Disco is an 11 ft tall projection mapped sculpture consisting of a pentagonal obelisk and a 3 ft diameter polygonal sphere with an accompanying soundtrack.
It is currently on view as part of the Hank Willis Thomas Selects the NJ Arts Annual 2026 exhibit at the Zimmerli Art Museum in New Brunswick through December 2026.
The work uses the sculpture as a shifting visual canvas, transforming it through projection and sound from a symbolic representation of the unblinking gaze of the surveillance state into an expression of the collective liberation found in dance and communal celebration.
Design Assistance: James Baylis, Jo Snyder, Brian Sandilands, and Steven Drake
Fabrication: James Baylis, Jo Snyder, and Marta Villavicencio Roberts at the Johnson Atelier
Finishing: Miguel Romero-Trejos
AV Installation: Digital Pulse Productions
Installation Assistance: Steven Drake & Cara Giddens