Panopticon

Panopticon is an interactive installation that reads the world map as a field of touch and sound. An abstract map of continents and countries is traced on the floor using cables into which Piezo sensors are embedded. When a visitor steps on a marked area, the corresponding sensor sends a signal to a Raspberry Pi 4 single board computer and triggers a sound related to the country where the sensor sits.
The work links physical presence with a changing soundscape to address migration, war, and the surveillance of citizens on a global scale. A ceiling mounted webcam connected to the same computer monitors the viewer's position and certain characteristics, amplifying the feeling of being watched and making the visitor a component of the installation's behaviour.
From a technical perspective the piece is a network of sensors and mapped audio. Piezo sensors convert pressure into electrical signals, the Raspberry Pi reads those inputs and maps each sensor to an audio file, and the webcam provides positional data through computer vision. Speakers reproduce the triggered sounds so that the spatial pattern of steps becomes a geopolitical soundtrack that shifts with movement and interaction.
Developed as a postgraduate project in 2023 2024 by Pavlakis Lampros Marios, the work is currently under construction. It sits at the intersection of tactile interaction and digital oversight, inviting questions about agency, collective memory, and how sound can carry the traces of displacement and conflict.












