Framing Human Dignity: Visual Jurisprudence at the Constitutional Court

The South African Constitution affirms “the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom”. The Constitutional Court in Johannesburg was established as a key institution in South Africa’s new democracy. Built on the site of a former prison, the Court is not only distinctive architecturally including integrated artworks in the fabric of the building, it is a unique space by international comparison because it houses a large visual art collection developed by and for the Court—the core theme of which is respect for human dignity. Drawing on six months fieldwork at the Constitutional Court—which included fifty-four interviews with judges, staff, artists, advocates, and visitors to the Court—this paper examines the connections between human dignity and art at the Court. The aim is to investigate whether the realisation of human dignity by the Court, is disconnected from the aesthetics of the art collection. Is the performance of dignity in the art collection a utopian ideal, achievable objective, or unrealised potential? The art collection is a kind of visual jurisprudence which responds to, but also comprises, conceptions of human dignity as a right, a value and a touchstone of democracy—conceptions which are closely entwined with South Africa’s human rights governance, but that manifest in very different ways. The collection envisages the journey to human dignity as ongoing; it is promised but remains ungraspable. In this way, the Court is simultaneously a ‘good place’—a site constituting human dignity—and a ‘no place’, a prospect yet to be realised—a sight of human dignity. This tension is important in calibrating an idea of human dignity within a transitioning human rights discourse in South Africa

The justice of art at South Africa’s constitutional court

Dr Eliza Garnsey, who recently presented her work at the LSE Department of Government Conflict Research Group seminar on Thursday 23 February, outlines the importance of art in the constitutional Court of South Africa. Dr Denisa Kostovicova, one of the organisers of the Conflict Research Group seminar has been awarded funding for a ground-breaking collaborative research project, ‘Art and Reconciliation: Conflict, Culture and Community.’ Read more about her new interdisciplinary research project and the importance of exploring the role of art in post-conflict peace-building

Framing human dignity: visual jurisprudence at South Africa’s Constitutional Court

The Constitutional Court of South Africa is a unique space by international comparison because it houses a large visual art collection developed by and for the court. The purpose of this article is to look at the connections between human dignity and art at the Constitutional Court. Is the performance of dignity in the art collection a utopian ideal, achievable objective, or unrealised potential? I argue that the art collection is a kind of visual jurisprudence which responds to, but also comprises, conceptions of human dignity as a right, a value and a touchstone of democracy — conceptions that are closely entwined with South Africa’s human rights governance, but that manifest in very different ways. At the same time that human dignity becomes realised by the spatial transformation of the site of the court, it remains in the art collection something that must ever be worked towards. This article arises out of six months of participant observation fieldwork at the Constitutional Court, conducting 54 semi-structured interviews with people involved in the collection

Rewinding and Unwinding: Art and Justice in Times of Political Transition

The purpose of this article is to theorize the relationship between art and justice in times of transition so that a broader spectrum of political possibilities and their implications can be imagined. The aim is to offer a way to think about, and to render visible, the web of relationships that constitute this bond. By undertaking a close analysis and narrative investigation of the art installation REwind: A Cantata for Voice, Tape and Testimony, I use the artwork to elucidate four key ideas relating to paradigms, agency, encounters and space which make art relevant and meaningful to transitional justice. These four ideas frame two central arguments. First, I argue that an account of transitional justice without aesthetic dimensions is insufficient, precisely because transitional justice ‘acknowledges itself as a process inseparable from feelings of justice.’ Artworks can fill out affective topologies in ways that facilitate or stimulate recognition and a ‘feeling of being there.’ Secondly, I contend that art plays an important role in animating and activating individual narratives so that they take on collective importance. In doing so, the past can be shared so that a new political future can be imagined

New Firm Growth: Exploring Processes and Paths

This paper provides a new methodology for the diachronic study of new firm growth, theoretically grounded in the work of Penrose (1995). We show that a model of firm growth as an unfolding process makes possible draw simple, measurable inferences from firm level to aggregate evidence on growth paths of new firms, expressed as propositions. Metrics on growth paths of new firms in three longitudinal samples of new firms are examined for evidence at the aggregate level consistent with the dynamic model. Dynamic processes in the early development of young firms result in variations in the timing, magnitude, duration and rate of change of growth as between firms and in the same firm over time. The conceptual and methodological framework in this paper provides a basis for future research aimed at explaining the development of new firms.entrepreneurship;Penrose;growth paths;new firm growth;resource-based perspective

Employment Growth of New Firms

This paper provides an overview of empirical studies on employment growth in new firms and offers a systematic analysis of new empirical data to address the methodological issues identified. Using a longitudinal database of 354 firms over their first ten years, we examine factors associated with new firm growth in terms of R&D, inter-firm alliancing, new product development, and exporting; these are activities that have been identified as denoting dynamic capabilities. The empirical evidence gives some evidence for the positive association between dynamic capabilities and new firm growth. Inter-firm alliancing is the only indicator of dynamic capabilities that has a positive effect on new firm growth. No moderating effect on dynamic capabilities and growth could be seen to be exerted by the level of human capital and/or firm resources. Environmental dynamism – assumed to be highly relevant in the dynamic capability approach – is not revealed to be a moderating factor affecting the relationship between dynamic capabilities and new firm growth.