Legal thought made relevant and entertaining

The team received support from LAW, FASoS, the UM Library, Stichting Wetenschappelijk Onderwijs Limburg (SWOL), and the Art and Heritage Committee (KEC). “We also established contact with the Maison Victor Hugo in Paris about using Victor Hugo’s visual works,” adds Couperus. Cultural education expert Emilie Sitzia coordinated the creation of a multisensory experience.  

Original books were provided by curator Odin Essers and historian Melissa Prinz, from the Special Collections of the UM Library.  The exhibition also includes videos, music, soundscapes, special boxes recreating the smell of revolutionary Paris – which apparently is largely unpleasant, with a surprising top note of cedar. From Key & Peele to Iron Maiden, from a Disney parody of Les Misérables to songs from the titular musical, visitors were invited on a journey across time and media.  

Couperus is very happy with the results so far: “We received very positive feedback from within the faculty and also from external visitors.” Among other things, they reached out to the UM community and to high schools in the city to organise academic guided tours. “It really brings home the importance of experiential learning,” concludes Willemse. “Rather than me telling them things, it was mostly about them seeing the building and being carried away by the exhibition. Especially for young people who have grown up in the post-truth age of online fakery, there is something special about seeing the original works.”

The opening of the exhibition was accompanied by an international, transdisciplinary workshop and a screening of the 2019 film Les Misérables. Solaro explains that while the movie’s plot does not harken back to the eponymous Hugo novel, it treats very similar themes: “Our colleagues Paula Lozada Alfaro and Janneke Westra selected this film; it focuses on police violence against disadvantaged citizens with immigrant origins, and it’s set in the commune of Montfermeil – the same place where Hugo wrote and set parts of Les Misérables. The film illustrates both societal evolution as well as the continuity and how relevant Hugo’s themes are to this day.”  

In Hugo’s novel Les Misérables, Jean Valjean is condemned to 19 years’ hard labour for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his nieces and nephews; the correct sentence according to the letter of the law – but also clearly unjust. “It’s a great book,” says Willemse. “It’s literature illustrating the philosophical confrontation between a traditional, conservative and a progressive or revolutionary worldview. The revolution held that a rational society and a completely just law were possible – but this is clearly not the case.” 

Couperus adds that Hugo explores “what the social elements are that prevent law and justice from coinciding. He also identifies the right to education and women’s rights as potential remedies.” Hugo has had a real influence on many aspects of the law. “He was at the origin of international copyright: he was an active campaigner against the death penalty because he saw it as unjust and cruel,” explains Solaro, whose contribution to the workshop focused on Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamné, a short novel exploring the anguish of a man sentenced to death. “I have read many legal texts arguing against the death penalty and it was interesting to compare it with a literary approach – what I call normative fiction – based on narrative and emotion.” 

The team continues to explore ways to collaborate on future events. In the meantime, they are working on making the findings from the workshop available as an illustrated book. The exhibition will be extended for six months at the UM Inner City Library. The Law & Popular Culture – Research Network continues its mission, hosting regular events. 

Text: Florian Raith
Photography: Jonathan Vos