Michel Foucault
Of Other Places: Utopias & Heterotopias
From Architecture/Movement Continuite
October, 1984
Translated from French by Jay Misckowiec

In this essay, Foucault introduces the concept for a unique space he defines as the ‘heterotopia.’ Here, the word ‘hetero’ refers to a kind of ‘otherness’ and each of these other spaces follows a list of six criteria necessary to fit within the definition. I’m interested in the way that dungeon or BDSM play space can be seen through the lens of the heterotopia.