Surveillance and Manipulation VS Networking and Sharing

In this article, we will address the issues of image and visibility in relation to the dynamics of surveillance and social sharing, questioning them from an aesthetic, political and social point of view. The issue of surveillance will be introduced through the well-known studies of Michel Foucault and expanded by referring to the most recent interdisciplinary research on this topic. Then, this issue will be re-thought in the light of the concept of “liquid surveillance” (Zygmunt Bauman) to analyse the shift from “visibility as a trap” (Foucault) to visibility as a need. The analysis will be focused mainly on contemporary visual culture. To this end, examples and case studies ranging from mainstream cinema, to experimental cinema, to everyday life will be used