Literary and artistic works are repeatedly on trial, both in democratic as in autocratic regimes. The motives for lawsuits against art vary and many of them are incomparable – sometimes it is a question of religious interests, sometimes economic or political ones, or there are personal reasons. Most of these law cases have substantial repercussions on the succeeding generations.
The conference therefore focuses on the aesthetic and juridical debates around literature and art on trial. From academic as well as artistic perspectives, the talks and discussions will explore various discourses and judgements: What is the nature of the debate on literature and art in court? Based on what documents and assessments are verdicts given? How important is the opinion of experts in reaching a verdict? What (self-) defence strategies are chosen by artists and lawyers in court? To what extent do they correlate with established literary and cultural studies? How are art and literary notions shaped by court decisions? These are all questions to debate by the differing examples such as the «One-Thousand-Yen-Note Trial» against the Japanese artist Akasegawa Genpei from the company Hi Red Center, the well-known German trial against Maxim Biller’s novel «Esra», or the latest Russian art trials among which the one against Pussy Riot.
The symposium starts with the film preview, followed by a discussion of «Moskauer Prozesse» and is continued for two days in the court stage set.
