I’m not entirely sure what to say about this at the Banco di Sardegna near Corso Sempione, but I walk by it every night and it seems like the most peculiar deterrence to me: positioned inside the entryway to the bank, behind the barred gate that’s pulled down every night. Just inside is a video monitor. On it, more or less continuously (also during the day), an image of one or two security guards watching a video screen plays.
What they’re watching is you as you approach the bank, and this is shown to you. If you stick your hand through the bars (as I did to take a picture), an automated voice warns you (as if you didn’t already know) that the bank is under surveillance. I half expected the guards to come chasing me out of the bank and onto the street, as might happen in Belgrade or Washington, but no. I fully expected to see myself on the screen, much like when Laura Palmer opens her bedroom door in Fire Walk with Me and sees herself entering a painting on her wall.
Images for your bemusement/befuddlement.
panopticon revealed!