Bogoro, inquiry-artwork by Franck Leibovici and Julien Seroussi #4 Images in the trial
Investigation by Virginie Bobin
At the crossroads between art, poetry and international justice, Switch (on Paper) is publishing a text that takes the form of an investigation, in several instalments, of a project conducted since 2014 by Franck Leibovici and Julien Seroussi at the International Criminal Court (ICC). The project centred on the Katanga/Ngudjolo trial, named after the two militiamen accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, allegedly committed in 2003 in the village of Bogoro, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This fourth text clarifies the role of images and the gaze in the trial, through the study of two installations: muzungu (2016 – in progress) and vitraux et tampons — l’histoire du pixel (2018).
bogoro, op.cit. p. 247.
The text and its performance at Bunkier Sztuki (Krakow, 2016), Dreams&Dramas. Law as Literature at nGbK (Berlin, 2017), vitraux et tampons – l’histoire du pixel at La Chaufferie (Strasbourg, 2018) and Juger – Créer at la Cité internationale des arts (Paris, 2018).
Julien Seroussi and Franck Leibovici, bogoro, Questions Théoriques, 2016
During the Katanga/Ngudjolo trial, numerous images were submitted to the judges by the prosecutor’s team as evidence: photographs of the scene of attack, portraits of alleged protagonists, maps…. Yet very little of this evidence was deemed admissible. The witnesses’ accounts revealed differences in the interpretations and views of individuals, places and situations represented by the…
