CONFERENCE: "Law and the Visual- Transitions and Transformations"
The Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National University has announced a conference: Law and the Visual - Transitions and Transformations |
Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University | July 7-8 2014.
The Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National
University is one of the world’s oldest and best-known research centres in
interdisciplinary humanities. As part of its 2014 Annual Theme, Now Showing:
Cultures, Judgements, and Research on the Digital Screen, we are calling for
papers on themes of visual representations of law in history and the
contemporary world, focusing in particular on moments of transition and
transformation.
Over the long journey of modernity, technologies of law
and technologies of the visual have been marked by their volatility and inventiveness.
On the one hand, changing technologies of law – the emergence of the text, the
development of legislation, the might of sovereignty, structures of
colonialism, mechanisms of human rights, new modes of regulation, governance,
and discipline – have continually transformed our understanding of and
relationship to legality. On the other hand, changing technologies of visual
representation – the development of perspective, the triumph of printing,
photography, film, and video games to name a few – have equally transformed our
understanding of and relationship to images. In what ways can each shed light
on the other?
* How have
technologies of visual representation reflected, illuminated, and constituted
ideologies of law and legality – particularly at moments of significant
transition or transformation?
* In what way do
visual representations of law throughout the pre-modern, modern and
contemporary periods illuminate and challenge our understanding of the changing
relationship between law, aesthetics, and power?
* In what ways do
contemporary media allow new opportunities for a cross-cultural conversation
around key legal issues and conflicts?
* How does the
aesthetics and technology of the digital screen transform the representation of
legal concepts such as the rule of law, sovereignty, justice, or human rights?
Only a limited number of papers can be accepted for this
symposium. It provides a rare opportunity to join an outstanding cast of
international scholars in legal history, legal theory, and legal aesthetics to
discuss and present exciting new work on the intersection of law and the
visual.
Negotiations are currently underway with possible
partners for the publication of selected papers. Confirmed participants
include—
Alison Young (University of Melbourne), criminologist;
author of Judging the Image (2005), and Street Art, Public City (2014)
Peter Goodrich (Cardozo School of Law), legal historian;
author of Oedipus Lex (1996), and Legal Emblems (2013)
Richard Sherwin (New York Law School), director of the
Visual Persuasion Project; author of Visualizing Law (2011)
Desmond Manderson (Australian National University),
founding director, Institute for the Public Life of Art and Ideas; author of
Kangaroo Courts & the Rule of Law (2011)
Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be directed to
the Convenor.
Please include a 75 word bio note, institutional
affiliation, and contact details, and put TRANSITIONS AND TRANSFORMATIONS in
the subject line. Closing date for
submissions is 31 March. On-line
registration will be available from the end of April.
