Panel Discussion At W&L Oct. 22
Washington and Lee University’s Staniar Gallery is presenting “Locating the Law: Places of German Constitutional History,” an exhibition by German photographer Alexander Telesniuk. The exhibit opened Sept. 4 and will run through Oct. 31 in Lykes Atrium in Wilson Hall.
A panel discussion is slated for 4 p.m. Oct. 22, followed by a reception. Panelists will include Telesniuk; Russell Miller, the J.B. Stombock Professor of Law at W&L; Kish Parella, the Class of 1960 Professor of Ethics and Law at W&L; and Richard Wetzell, a research fellow at the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C.
The exhibition and reception events are free and open to the public.
“Locating the Law” is adapted from the book “Verfassungorte (Constitutional Places),” co-authored by Miller and the Foundation for the Places of the History of German Democracy’s Markus Lang and Kai-Michael Sprenger and considers how democracy is rooted not only in legal texts but also in physical spaces and collective memory.
“Locating the Law” invites viewers to explore the physical and symbolic places in which Germany’s democratic and constitutional identity has taken shape over the centuries — from medieval cathedrals and Enlightenment- era town halls to postwar courthouses and modern office buildings. Telesniuk’s photographs remind viewers that building and upholding a constitutional society takes sustained effort from all parts of the community.
The exhibition also considers how architecture, ritual and location anchor democratic values in public memory and everyday life. At a time of growing global concern about the future of democracy, the exhibition reminds viewers that constitutions are more than written texts. They are living commitments, grounded in places and sustained by the people who inhabit them.
Organized by Miller and curated by John Gregory, a
