Fiat lex: history—jurisprudence—art
An interdisciplinary masterclass on visual representations of law and justice

Professor Desmond Manderson, University of Ghent, September 2014

It is a puzzle why we seem to turn a blind eye to how law is imagined, represented, and challenged in other cultural forms.  Very little attention has yet been paid, for example, to law as it is represented or constituted in images.  Law imagines itself to be resolutely hermetic, textual and linguistic.  Yet our cultures are saturated in the images and icons of art - privileged forms for the transmission and interrogation of social and institutional norms for millennia.  And visual media and mediations increasingly dominate our experience in the 21^st century.  These seminars take a first step at understanding important historical and conceptual aspects of law from just that point of view, with an eye on both the historical origins and development of the representation of legal concepts, and on the implications for these practices of representation in the contemporary world.

Detailed programme

Target group:

We welcome PhD-students with ongoing research in (art) history, law, philosophy or other fields on the crossroads of law, politics, semiotics, art, iconography and/or history. Participants will be asked to give a short presentation of their own research with a case on law & the visual, as well as a presentation on a work of art in the museum, for which they will receive background information. For each of the three morning sessions, participants are asked to read two texts (the other texts are suggested readings). The study material will be made possible via Zephyr after registration. The masterclass will be held entirely in English.

Registration:

* UGent Doctoral School AHL members: To register or to add your name to the waiting list, send an e-mail to Georges.Martyn@UGent.be, mentioning your name, first name, student number, Doctoral School and Department. Your registration will be confirmed by e-mail.

* non-UGent PhD students: To register or to add your name to the waiting list, send an e-mail to Georges.Martyn@UGent.be, mentioning your name, first name, present occupation, the languages you read and a brief description of your current research, as well as 1 or 2 of your relevant publications. You will get a reply by e-mail.