How to Collide?

with Jonas Staal and Radha D’Souza

Jonas Staal and Radha D’Souza are reflecting on their collaborative project Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes (CICC), exploring the intersections of art, activism, law, and political organisation. Conceived as an alternative tribunal, the project addresses the historical and ongoing responsibilities of states and corporations for colonial exploitation and ecological destruction. By challenging established notions of justice, accountability, and political representation, the CICC proposes alternative forms of justice that address climate crimes and their intergenerational consequences.

Drawing on their collaboration, Staal and D’Souza will also discuss broader questions of interdisciplinarity: How do artistic, legal, and activist practices intersect, and what forms of knowledge emerge through these encounters? How can different methodologies, languages, and epistemologies become productive forces for critical inquiry and collective knowledge production? The conversation will consider the possibilities and challenges of working across disciplinary boundaries, and how such collaborations can open up alternative ways of thinking, organising, and acting together.

Radha D’Souza was Professor of Law, Development and Conflict Studies at the University of Westminster. She is a lawyer, social justice activist, writer and commentator. Her inter- and transdisciplinary research straddles Legal Studies, Development Studies, History, Comparative Philosophy, Resource Conflicts and Geography, from Third World perspectives. Together with Dutch artist Jonas Staal she is co-founder of the art project ‘Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes.’

Jonas Staal is a visual artist whose work deals with the relation between art, propaganda, and democracy. He is the founder of the artistic and political organization ‘New World Summit’ (2012–ongoing). Together with Florian Malzacher he co-directs the training camp ‘Training for the Future’ (2018–ongoing), and together with human rights lawyer Jan Fermon he initiated the collective action lawsuit ‘Collectivize Facebook’ (2020–ongoing). With writer and lawyer Radha D’Souza he founded the ‘Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes’ (2021–ongoing) and with Laure Prouvost he is co-administrator of the ‘Obscure Union.’

This talk is part of the exhibition ‘Future on Trial. Between Unruly Evidence and Unfinished Climate Justice’. The discussed project resonates with the exhibition’s themes of climate justice and alternative forms of political organisation, demonstrating how artistic practice can move beyond representation to create spaces for collective action and the imagination and enactment of more just futures.

The event is also part of AIL’s special program ’Extending Intersections’ which follows the the aim to support colleagues and students of the University of Applied Arts Vienna with their interdisciplinary work, projects and endeavours.

About the series ‘How to Collide’:

In this discursive series, the Angewandte Interdisciplinary Lab (AIL) and departments of the University of Applied Arts Vienna bring together (international) artists, researchers, and scholars to explore the dynamics of interdisciplinary collaboration. Moving between artistic practice, research, and theory, the conversations examine the encounters, frictions, and unexpected connections that emerge when different disciplines, methods, and forms of knowledge meet.