he juxtaposition of historical and contemporary perspectives is a key element of the exhibition, Self-Determination: A Global Perspective where IMMA invites several artists to respond to the long-term impacts of nation building. To coincide with presenting the installation, Right? by Banu Cennetoğlu, we invite critical legal scholar Başak Ertür to present a talk that takes the installation as its departing point. This is followed by a conversation with the artist, and screening, where we explore interdisciplinary interests in the relationship between law, memory and history.

Başak Ertür is a critical legal scholar based at the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths, University of London, and an associate member of Forensic Architecture. From the context of her research for her book Spectacles and Specters: A Performative Theory of Political Trials (Fordham University Press, 2022) Ertür reflects on Cennetoğlu’s work Right? This provides the departure point for a deeper reflection on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR -1948) and the human rights regime whose initiation it marked, exploring the meaning of the declaration itself, its history, monumental performativity, its promises and ruins.

The talk is followed by a conversation with artist Banu Cennetoğlu; and a film screening of EREN, 2023 – an award-winning documentary on the life and work of the human rights lawyer and activist, Eren Keskin.

Banu Cennetoğlu is the National College of Art and Design’s 2024 Creative Fellow, this talk is kindly supported by the Creative Futures Academy.