Dismantling the face: Faciality and architectural space in the age of ‘control societies’

In the age of ‘control societies’ there is a need to re-situate understandings of the face in architecture. Historical readings of the face in architecture remain rooted in an anthropomorphism that fail to consider current forms of ‘simulated surveillance’ and the emerging non-human visualities that ensue from such a surveillance apparatus. The article considers the change from disciplinary surveillance, as observed in the Larkin building, to today’s simulated surveillance. By looking at readings of the face by Deleuze, Guattari and Cousins, it becomes possible to trace alternatives readings of facial codification. Towards this end, ‘The Eyes of the City’ exhibition (2020) and the media installation, the diplorasis, are used to consider affective readings of the face that enable yet-to-be determined relations between human and non-human visualities. The aim of this article is to speculate on reversing the one-way visual control of space via an overdetermined architectural programming of the human.