The panopticon, an 18th century prison design, features large, round rooms with cells lining the walls and a guard tower at its center. With one wall open to outside observers, this building theoretically creates social control through the threat of constant observation. Rather than controlling bodies through space, this design seeks to control minds.

Nearly two-and-a-half centuries after its creation, the artists in "In the Shadows, Our Ghosts Lurk" ("En Las Sombras, Nuestros Fantasmas Acechan") respond to the evolution of what curator Fabiola Iza calls "that omniscient gaze," or how modern technology has contributed to surveillance culture.

In 2025, public and private spaces often feel like a living panopticon - a space under constant, unknown surveillance. Home security systems feature exterior and interior cameras while CCTVs inside of retail stores, restaurants, and along city streets track passersby. The featured artists in this exhibition experience life under this "omniscient gaze" and through their artwork respond to the anxieties caused by mass observation.

For this installation, the main gallery at the Contemporary is transformed into a space full of shadows and half-constructed walls, lending itself to the anxieties of the unknown observer. Oswaldo Ruiz’s video piece features the old Kilmainham prison (Dublin) fading in and out of view and Daniela Bojórquez Vértiz’s photographic landscapes include an amalgamation of buildings, trees, and cars.

Following the opening reception, the exhibit will be on view through October 5.