Law & Sound – Le droit, le son, l’écoute - Part I

Is law an acoustic phenomenon? On the one hand, it seems immersed in sounds that it shapes or produces: it contributes to the composition of our soundscapes by regulating decibels or designating certain sounds—rather than others—as nuisances; it is proclaimed in solemn spaces whose acoustic dimensions cannot be ignored, making listening an essential part of the trials’ unfolding. On the other hand, it often presents itself as an anesthetizing enterprise: it belongs to the culture of files and writing, to the Text in which the voice fades away. This tension has proven to be fertile ground for legal scholarship and artistic practice.
In an attempt to grasp the new approaches emerging from this tension, this symposium will bring together twelve researchers and artists from across the fields of procedural law, legal theory, history, and sound studies.  Designed as a mirror reflexively held up to law and its sensory orders, this symposium is structured around three threads. First, a reflection on the scripturality and orality of law, questioning the foundations of the judicial institution as iuris dictio; second, a study of the aesthetic dimension of law, evoking the sensoriality of its enactment; and finally, an exploration of forensic sound art practices, engaging with the question of how law is inscribed in society.