The panoptic view

A clinic for forensic psychiatry is a place where power seems to be clearly distributed. Here, mentally ill offenders are housed under the provisions of Section 63 of the Criminal Code, meaning for an indefinite period and until they are no longer considered a danger to the public. Christa Pfafferott examines the reciprocal entanglements that constitute power and powerlessness in this place through her documentary film "Andere Welt." The analysis, in the context of Michel Foucault's considerations of the "Panopticon" model, shows how the phenomena of power in this highly secured microcosm are symptomatic of the free outside, where individuals are increasingly captured by surveillance and control.