Study for King's Circus c. 1809

Curator: Augustus Charles Pugin, around 1809, rendering a “Study for King’s Circus." It's a dizzying display of perspective in pen and ink on paper. Editor: My initial feeling? Claustrophobia. All those tiers of boxes looming, pressing inward. It feels less like entertainment, more like… surveillance. Curator: Precisely! The all-seeing eye, Bentham's Panopticon… Pugin, though associated with Neoclassicism, presents it almost as a future prison. Imagine the labor behind each sketched line, defining every ornamental curve of this architecture for future, physical building. Editor: But those lines, they're so frantic, so uncontrolled. Is this the raw state, then? Like a preparatory architectural drawing dashed out, trying to capture a concept? It’s interesting how utilitarian architectural plans might look and then compare it to this creative rendering. Curator: Indeed. He’s capturing light, atmosphere… maybe even the giddy excitement – or dread – of the audience who would eventually fill this space. See how minimal yet detailed everything is by ink alone on this type of paper? Editor: Look at those stage-like balconies. Consider what kinds of social divisions are physically built into these theaters; separating the elite patrons above from those standing below. Did Pugin aim to make us feel this unequal division, a very particular social observation? Curator: Perhaps, but think also about the materials. The wood, the plaster, the textiles—transformed into an immersive spectacle. Editor: But ink itself is a tool for architectural plans to realize those large scale building, and at that stage is not that valuable but only useful for later… Is it supposed to speak to social hierarchies of artistic labor? Curator: Hmmm… you do invite a radical reassessment. In any event, one walks away from this "Study" feeling a lot less sure what sort of pleasure such grand spaces promise. Editor: Yes. Pugin's creation reveals a beautiful diagram with layers of meaning we have only begun to explore.