Art and power in Michel Foucault's theory of panopticon

Since the beginning of human history, the issue of power has become one of the greatest debates among individuals and societies. On the basis of individuals, it means to influence others and manipulate their behaviours but socially means to hold the state administration and using state power. Power is also referred as the force which impose the state to comply with decisions, if necessary, by establishing order and law for the common good of the society, while simultaneously showing the power of the state. Even the ruling establishment, which defines the limits of freedom given to individuals and reassures this freedom. With the new conditions created by the industrial revolution in the 18th century, power has acquired an economic meaning, overcoming military and political power. Beyond this era, power belongs to who are affluents and have considerable wealth. For the continuity of the production and consumption network that provides economic power, the new model power covers all aspects of life by spreading out all over instead of from top to bottom. During this process of expansion, the French philosopher Michel Foucault, with the Panopticon theory he has produced with historical inspirations, says that power is in circulation, affecting every field at micro level. Every single individual and each community is converted to "uniform" through certain institutions and continues to be managed for the continuity of the economic order, while disciplinary power method is pushed the different, non-normative ones out of society. Since prehistoric times, art has been one of the most effective ways of expressing himself/herself for human being and sustained its academic development under several rules and tried to discover new paths to develop under the dominance of who possessed economic power. The industrial revolution has also influenced in changing art's direction by enabling people to mobilize via communication options as much as it created new captivities. With the development of technology, the material diversity has increased and the artist, who is influenced by political movements, has gained more independent thinking. The space that art has dominated is no longer sufficient for the artist's creativity. Yet, it is severely affected by economic difficulties and market conditions that turns it into a commodity. The artist will be able to gain freedom of creativity by getting free of museums, art galleries, auctions where the art is commercialized. The art piece must be valuable not only in shape but in content. The social, political and economic development that gained momentum as of the 19th century, enabled the art production to differentiate and ensured to create new production areas through new ways of thinking. Following Cubism which is considered as a revolutionary beginning, Conceptual Art, Land Art, Arte Povera, Fluxus, Relational Aesthetics, Opart, Body Art and beyond, played a crucial role in the development of modern art as most important movements that broke the power of art. The subject of art and power, which is considered in the context of panopticon theory, constitues the main theme of the thesis. Keywords: Power, Panopticon, Michel Foucault, the art and the power