CALL: Law and Image(s) (EUTopia CoLeCo Legal History 2026-2027)
EUTopia CoLeCo Legal History 2026-2027: Law and Image(s)
(image: the
judgment of Cambyses, or what happens to a bad judge, by Gerard David,
Groeningemuseum Brugge; source: Topstukkencollectie Vlaamse Overheid)
Since 2021,
students and academic staff from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), the
University of Ljubljana, CY Cergy Paris Université, Universitat Pompeu Fabra
(Barcelona), NOVA University Lisbon, and the University of Warwick have been
working together in a unique hybrid learning environment. The Connected
Learning Community combines online and hybrid meetings with a physical peak
event and the publication of student research on the EUTopia CoLeCo Blog.
For the
2026–2027 academic year, we invite you to explore the theme Law and Image. At
first sight, this may seem like a thoroughly contemporary topic. We live in a
world shaped by images: short videos, streaming platforms, social media,
and visual communication influence how we understand law, politics, and
society. Yet the relationship between law and images is far older.
Throughout history, images have been used to communicate legal principles,
legitimise political authority, assert territorial claims, represent justice,
and commemorate institutions and individuals. In societies with limited
literacy, visual communication was often one of the most powerful legal and
political languages available. The image of subaltern actors, women, depictions
of transgressors or of morally valued behaviour can inform us on the place of
justice within society.
In addition, we propose to you to think and pursue
these topics also in connection with the respective communication
technologies that had enabled the creation and spread of the relevant visual
imagery and in the first place.
Before the dawn of artificial intelligence, which brought with it, among others,
the (re)newed premise of inherent doubting in the trustworthiness of image and
text, a similar effects were not unfamiliar with the introduction of every
other communication technology in the past, albeit taking root with a promise
of it being in fact truer to the reality (photography and film from the
19th century), printing and mass reproduction from the 16th
century, manuscripts before that and of course painting, sculpture and
architecture with its outer and inner symbolism (think of Lady Justice in its
uncountable variants) accentuating the performativity of juridical and
legislative actions taking place inside and outside them.
(Image:
closing statement by Radovan Karadzic at the ICTY [still]; source: Deutsche
Welle)
The
highlight of the programme will be a five-day Blended Intensive Programme
(BIP) hosted by CY Cergy Paris Université in February 2027, where
students and staff from across the EUTopia alliance will meet in person. In
preparation for the peak event, small international teams of five to eight
students from each partner university will work under the guidance of their
local professor or lecturer, while meeting regularly online with participants
from across the network.
At the
heart of the EUTopia Connected Learning Community is the student. You
take the lead in shaping your own topic. Working together with your peers,
you will develop a project that combines academic rigour with innovative forms
of digital communication. It is essential to work on a legal source or legally
relevant source, using appropriate academic heuristics and correct
referencing.
Rich
digital repositories such as Europeana and Gallica provide access
to millions of digitised sources: legislation, case law, legal scholarship,
reports on famous court cases, architectural drawings for courthouses,
paintings, statues, photographs, posters, and much more. These collections
offer a unique opportunity to study not only the written law, but also the
visual culture through which legal ideas, institutions, and authority have been
represented across time.
(image:
Leopold II’s Palace of Justice, Brussels, 18 November 2025)
Along the
way, you will gain insight into the legal traditions of the countries
and regions represented within the network. By engaging with different legal
cultures, perspectives, and historical experiences, you will also develop a
deeper understanding of your own legal system. After all, it is often through
comparison with others that we come to appreciate the distinctive features of
our own traditions.
Get in touch with Prof. Frederik Dhondt (frederik dot dhondt at vub dot be) by 1 October 2026. Experiences of previous generations of students (peak event reports, source analyses and papers, videos, presentations) can be consulted on our blog: https://eutopialegalhistory.blogspot.com.
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