The Visceral Viewer and the Court was created as new curriculum bridging aesthetics and social practice. Partnerships were developed between college art departments and California Superior Courthouses, including California Institute of the Arts and San Fernando Superior Courthouse, University of California, Irvine and Harbor Justice Center Superior Courthouse, and San Francisco Art Institute and San Francisco Superior Courthouse.

Art students at each of the three schools were guided to spend several weeks investigating the visual and social codes of each courthouse and justice system. Interviews were conducted with judges, lawyers, bailiffs, administrators and sheriffs. Students explored the language, fashion, architecture, visual signage and interior design of each courthouse. At the same time we guided students to explore their own subjectivities so as not to separate themselves from the environment they were exploring and interpreting.

The explorations culminated in critical works of photo, text, performance, video and architectural models, which were presented to all court professionals in a courtroom at each courthouse. The justice professionals we had interacted with became our audience. The resulting discussions were marvelous and surprising meetings between artists and court personnel. Two populations who are generally separated and foreign to each other were able to become reflective of each others' differences and sameness. Each group saw themselves and each other as never before, through the eyes of the other.

PDF article The Aesthetics of Legal Process (9MB)