Attendance and Pretence on Stage and in Court
Richard Sherwin analyses the structural changes of courtroom trials in the context of a neo-baroque era, saturated with images and information. He uses a comparison between trials and post-modern performances relying in particular on the example of the Builders Association. The trial does indeed becomes indeed a multimedia performance full of screens, which questions the meaning of testimony itself and the value of evidence, as images tend to become virtual copies of copies manipulated in a way that pushes them away from what would appear to be the reality. The parallel between hybrid theater and law performance helps understand the risks of trials’ hybridization. In cases like this, the law has to redefine itself to maintain its legitimacy.