Prof. Dr. Sandra Noeth, with the support of Nevena Delić
Bodies of Law: Art, Activism, and the Right to Have a Body
Thursdays, 18-20 h at HZT Berlin, Uferstraße 23, 13357 Berlin - Studio 11
Dates: 22.10., 29.10, 5.11., 12.11, 19.11, 26.11., 10.12., 17.12.2026

The human body lies at the heart of many urgent contemporary legal debates and social justice movements. Examples include the struggle for reproductive rights, sexual self-determination and the right to abortion, as well as body-based strategies in the realms of migration politics and contemporary warfare, including push-backs and human shielding. Legal frameworks also determine the extent to which bodies can intervene in public spaces, hold protests and assemblies, and access material, physical, and ethical protections. The integrity and the inalienability of the body are fundamental legal principles that should be applicable to everyone. However, factors such as race, gender and ability challenge these principles–in other words, not all bodies are granted equal status and agency under the law. By taking a trans-disciplinary approach, Bodies of Law addresses these and other phenomena as occasions to question how the law perceives and deals with the human body, and who is legally afforded the right to have a body. It explores the body’s role in legal matters. Is the body the object of law, its agent, a surface for projection, a witness or an archive, and in what ways do we imagine, represent, stage and frame our own and others’ bodies in relation to the law? In what ways can the body be understood as evidence for testing, negotiating and challenging different notions of 'truth'? To what extent is a body’s ability to appear in its own right in front of the law a matter of aesthetics and how a body performs, as well as how it is perceived? How can art facilitate the exploration of alternative models of justice. In the trans-disciplinary public lecture series Bodies of Law invited guests engage with a range of case studies, concepts and practices from law, civic engagement, the arts and activism to explore how body-based knowledge can reveal the ambiguities and loopholes of legal structures. 

With: Phanuel Antwi, Ansambl Generalštab / Nikolina Đorđević, Banu Bargu, Başak Ertür, Hanaa Hakiki, Janez Janša, NenadLajbenšperger, James Martell, Lina Majdalanie, Carolina Mendonça, Esther Neuhann, Lucia Ruprecht, Arkadi Zaides, and others. Curated by Sandra Noeth, with the support of Nevena Delić.

The lecture series takes place in English. 

Detailed information and biographies will be available on hzt-berlin.de from October 2026 onwards. 

Requirements for ungraded accreditation: regular and active participation in the lecture series, short written task.

Sandra Noeth's CV can be found here.