{"id":2852,"date":"2025-06-20T13:33:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T17:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fpga\/?post_type=cu_story&#038;p=2852"},"modified":"2025-06-27T12:14:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T16:14:26","slug":"a-kafkaesque-stage-at-a-former-courthouse-in-berlin","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fpga\/story\/a-kafkaesque-stage-at-a-former-courthouse-in-berlin\/","title":{"rendered":"A Kafkaesque Stage at a Former Courthouse in Berlin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"w-screen px-6 cu-section cu-section--white ml-offset-center md:px-8 lg:px-14\">\n    <div class=\"space-y-6 cu-max-w-child-max  md:space-y-10 cu-prose-first-last\">\n\n        \n                    \n                    \n            \n    <div class=\"cu-wideimage relative flex items-center justify-center mx-auto px-8 overflow-hidden md:px-16 rounded-xl not-prose  my-6 md:my-12 first:mt-0 bg-opacity-50 bg-cover bg-cu-black-50 pt-24 pb-32 md:pt-28 md:pb-44 lg:pt-36 lg:pb-60 xl:pt-48 xl:pb-72\" style=\"background-image: url(https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fpga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/06\/Biennale-Berlin-StacyDouglas-1600x700.jpg); background-position: 50% 50%;\">\n\n                    <div class=\"absolute top-0 w-full h-screen\" style=\"background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.600);\"><\/div>\n        \n        <div class=\"relative z-[2] max-w-4xl w-full flex flex-col items-center gap-2 cu-wideimage-image cu-zero-first-last\">\n            <header class=\"mx-auto mb-6 text-center text-white cu-pageheader cu-component-updated cu-pageheader--center md:mb-12\">\n\n                                    <h1 class=\"cu-prose-first-last font-semibold mb-2 text-3xl md:text-4xl lg:text-5xl lg:leading-[3.5rem] cu-pageheader--center text-center mx-auto after:left-px\">\n                        A Kafkaesque Stage at a Former Courthouse in Berlin\n                    <\/h1>\n                \n                            <\/header>\n        <\/div>\n\n                    <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"absolute bottom-0 w-full z-[1]\" fill=\"none\" viewbox=\"0 0 1280 312\">\n                <path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M26.412 315.608c-.602-.268-6.655-2.412-13.524-4.769a1943.84 1943.84 0 0 1-14.682-5.144l-2.276-.858v-5.358c0-4.876.086-5.358.773-5.09 1.674.643 21.38 5.84 34.646 9.109 14.682 3.59 28.935 6.858 45.936 10.449l9.874 2.089H57.322c-16.4 0-30.31-.16-30.91-.428ZM460.019 315.233c42.974-10.074 75.602-19.88 132.443-39.867 76.16-26.791 152.063-57.709 222.385-90.663 16.7-7.823 21.336-10.074 44.262-21.273 85.004-41.688 134.719-64.193 195.291-88.413 66.55-26.577 145.2-53.584 194.27-66.765C1258.5 5.626 1281.34 0 1282.24 0c.17 0 .34 27.596.34 61.3v61.299l-2.23.375c-84.7 13.718-165.93 35.955-310.736 84.931-46.494 15.753-65.427 22.076-96.166 32.15-9.102 3-24.814 8.198-34.989 11.574-107.543 35.954-153.008 50.422-196.626 62.639l-6.74 1.876-89.126-.054c-78.135-.054-88.782-.161-85.948-.857ZM729.628 312.875c33.229-10.985 69.248-23.523 127.506-44.207 118.705-42.223 164.596-57.709 217.446-73.302 2.62-.75 8.29-2.465 12.67-3.751 56.19-16.772 126.94-33.597 184.17-43.671 5.07-.91 9.66-1.768 10.22-1.875l.94-.161v170.236l-281.28-.054H719.968l9.66-3.215ZM246.864 313.411c-65.041-2.251-143.047-12.11-208.432-26.256-18.375-3.965-41.73-9.538-42.202-10.074-.171-.214-.257-21.38-.214-47.046l.129-46.618 6.654 3.697c57.313 32.043 118.491 56.531 197.699 79.143 40.313 11.521 83.459 18.058 138.669 21.059 15.584.857 65.685.857 81.14 0 33.744-1.876 61.306-4.93 88.396-9.806 6.396-1.126 11.634-1.983 11.722-1.929.255.375-20.48 7.769-30.999 11.038-28.592 8.948-59.288 15.646-91.873 20.147-26.36 3.59-50.015 5.627-78.35 6.698-15.584.59-55.209.59-72.339-.053Z\"><\/path>\n                <path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M-3.066 295.067 32.06 304.1v9.033H-3.066v-18.066Z\"><\/path>\n            <\/svg>\n            <\/div>\n\n    \n\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<p>Inside the former courthouse at Lehrter Stra\u00dfe, Stacy Douglas presents <em>Law Is Aesthetic: Trope<\/em>, a four-part video installation that turns legal theory into theatre. Drawing from Franz Kafka\u2019s <em>The Trial<\/em>, Douglas explores how the law accuses, convicts, and disciplines even when no crime has been named.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"cu-section cu-section--white w-screen ml-offset-center px-4 md:px-6 lg:px-12\"><div class=\"cu-max-w-child-5xl space-y-6 md:space-y-10   cu-prose-first-last\"><figure class=\"cu-figure not-prose  max-w-full\"><div class=\"not-prose overflow-hidden bg-white shadow-lg max-w-full rounded-none\"><div class=\"relative none overflow-hidden w-full pb-[56.25%] border border-cu-black-100\"><iframe title=\"Videos Embed\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YkyT3BgGzw0\" class=\"cu-embed-iframe\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Kafkaesque Becomes Literal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first video opens with individuals bewildered by unexpected accusations. The word \u201cKafkaesque\u201d is thrown around by news anchors, yet no one seems to grasp what it means. In the second, a person combs through Canadian legal cases where the term is used as if it were a neutral descriptor. Douglas exposes how language in legal settings not only reflects but also produces absurdities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Waiting, But For What?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the third piece, Douglas stages a rehearsal of a one-act play titled <em>Waiting for Law<\/em>, inspired by Beckett. The characters are criminalized simply for waiting. If they wait, they are wrong. If they leave, they are wrong. The court exists, but its rules are incoherent. Viewers are drawn into the anxiety of indefinite expectation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"w-screen px-6 cu-section cu-section--white ml-offset-center md:px-8 lg:px-14\">\n    <div class=\"space-y-6 cu-max-w-child-5xl  md:space-y-10 cu-prose-first-last\">\n\n        \n                    \n                    \n            \n    <div class=\"cu-wideimage relative flex items-center justify-center mx-auto px-8 overflow-hidden md:px-16 rounded-xl not-prose  my-6 md:my-12 first:mt-0 bg-opacity-50 bg-cover bg-cu-black-50 py-24 md:py-28 lg:py-36 xl:py-48\" style=\"background-image: url(https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fpga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/06\/Biennale-Berlin-StacyDouglas-CourtHousev2-1.jpg); background-position: 50% 50%;\">\n\n                    <div class=\"absolute top-0 w-full h-screen\" style=\"background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.600);\"><\/div>\n        \n        <div class=\"relative z-[2] max-w-4xl w-full flex flex-col items-center gap-2 cu-wideimage-image cu-zero-first-last\">\n            <header class=\"mx-auto mb-6 text-center text-white cu-pageheader cu-component-updated cu-pageheader--center md:mb-12\">\n\n                                    <h2 class=\"cu-prose-first-last font-semibold mb-2 text-2xl md:text-3xl lg:text-4xl lg:leading-[3rem] cu-pageheader--center text-center mx-auto after:left-px\">\n                        Letters of Love and Resistance\n                    <\/h2>\n                \n                            <\/header>\n        <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n\n    \n\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<p>The final piece shifts tone. It features a series of love letters addressed to people, institutions, and ideas. These letters grapple with the possibility of &#8220;counter-monumentality&#8221;\u2014a rejection of dominant legal and historical narratives in favor of personal and collective vulnerability. Here, Douglas creates space for emotional honesty within systems designed for control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Scholar, Storyteller, Subversive<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Born in Peterborough in 1981 and currently based in Ottawa, Douglas is Associate Professor in the Department of Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University. She is also the author of <em>Curating Community<\/em> (2017), a critical examination of how museums construct national belonging. Her work at the Biennale is not a departure from academia but an expansion of it. Through satire, repetition, and poetry, she confronts the very systems she studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reclaiming the Courthouse<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Berlin Biennale, organized by KW Institute for Contemporary Art and supported by the German Federal Cultural Foundation, transforms the former courthouse into a space for critique. By placing her work inside a building once used to administer justice, Douglas turns the institution into her stage and the viewer into both witness and juror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is not simply an academic project displayed in an art gallery. It is a visceral invitation to consider how laws shape bodies, emotions, and public narratives. Douglas is not commenting on power from the sidelines. She is inside it, moving its parts, asking what it costs to live under its gaze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inside the former courthouse at Lehrter Stra\u00dfe, Stacy Douglas presents Law Is Aesthetic: Trope, a four-part video installation that turns legal theory into theatre. Drawing from Franz Kafka\u2019s The Trial, Douglas explores how the law accuses, convicts, and disciplines even when no crime has been named. Kafkaesque Becomes Literal The first video opens with individuals [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[34],"cu_story_tag":[],"class_list":["post-2852","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","hentry","cu_story_type-general"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fpga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/2852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fpga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fpga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fpga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fpga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/2852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2860,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fpga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/2852\/revisions\/2860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fpga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fpga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=2852"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fpga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=2852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}