Art Speaks On Law

“Text and its Execution” is an exhibition addressing the issue of the specificity of legal text, ways of its reading and execution (creation – for instance of new categories). Following the intuition of language as a category of “word-making,” the project seeks to treat selected legal concepts in terms of “text as such.” Legal text, as the law philosopher Martha Nussbaum emphasised in her description of Bowers versus Harwick case, requires a “literary” judge, who can step outside dogmatic thinking, react emphatically, and manifest cognitive sensibility. 

The proposed exhibition challenges the widely understood conditions of legal text: cultural, economic, and social. The exhibition seeks to present law in motion, its coming into being, as well as the need to reflect on structures of law, contained not only in legal language, but also it its execution. “Text and its Execution” poses a question on the meaning of notions of the individual, property, authorship, and, finally, law itself. The exhibition means to go beyond the conventions of text execution (its reading and comprehending) and express a kind of acceptance of the disparity between poetics and practice. “Text and its Execution” will speak with the voice of artists and the invited participants, including philosophers of law and sociologists, to outline the space of potential interpretations of notions and entire texts that reject the model of thinking expressed in the legal motto “what is clear does not require interpretation.” This philosophy of action is expressed by Carlos Amorales’ film “Supprimer, Modifier et Preserver ” (2012). The artist asked several lawyers to make interventions into the French civil code: remove an article, change a word, or add a phrase. To understand the entire system, he then asked about the motifs for their decision as well as its repercussions. 

The exhibition will consist of a variety of materials that emphasise different models of working with widely understood text and its execution. It will include a discursive-workshop zone designed by Carlos Toledo and Eva Dertschei. The space will feature materials working as supplements and contexts for presented works, which will allow viewers to fully explore the topic. 

The space of the “Exhibition Pavilion” will host a series of related events (discussions, screenings, and workshops). Among invited guests there are: Professor Piotr Hofmański, the judge of the International Criminal Court, and the French sociologist of law, Julien Seroussi.