X et Y c/ France... Plaidoirie pour une jurisprudence
Law of copyright and immigration laws
Two lawyers speak in defence of ‘X’, an immigrant with no papers who is to be deported. In a plea to the European Court of Human Rights they use the law of copyright to nullify the immigration laws: they present X as the author of ‘an immaterial work of art in progress’, which he is creating in collaboration with ‘Y’, a European artist ‘with papers’. According to them, X can in this capacity remain in the country legally. The lawyers on stage are also lawyers in real life: Sylvia Preuss-Laussinotte specialises in immigration law and Sébastien Canevet in the law on intellectual property. The audience takes up the position of the judges: it is up to you to pronounce the imaginary judgement and perhaps set a precedent for future legal cases.
• The French artists Patrick Bernier and Olive Martin often work on the themes of migration and identity, using photos, installations, films, performances and text. They created X et Y c/ France... Plaidoirie pour une jurisprudence at the Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, an arts centre in a Paris suburb where a lot of blue-collar workers and immigrants live. In this production they expose the cynical contrast between the rapid expansion of copyright and intellectual property law and the increasingly limited rights of immigrants.
concept Patrick Bernier, Olive Martin | performance Sébastien Canevet, Sylvia Preuss-Laussinotte | production Les Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers | support Conseil Général de Seine-Saint-Denis
