benandsebastian - Hatje Cantz

A table of contents with a minimalist, two-column layout on a white background. The text is bilingual, featuring page numbers and chapter titles in an elegant serif font. Sections include SPEKTRALLOV/SPECTRAL LAW, ROBOTTER/ROBOTS, PART I through PART VIII, and DYR/ANIMALS, along with subtitles and lists of contributors.

A minimalist two-page spread from a book, with text in Danish on the left page and an English translation on the right. The black text on a white background discusses legal cases involving nonhumans, such as animals and robots. Both pages feature a large, centered heading and the main text begins with a decorative drop cap.

A two-page layout from a color guide defining Knock Out Pink. The left page shows the name in a black serif font. The right page features a large, solid circle of the vibrant pink color with its corresponding Pantone, HEX, RGB, and CMYK color codes listed above it.

An open book showing two facing pages of text. The left page, numbered 42, is in a Scandinavian language, while the right page, numbered 45, is in English. Both pages share the heading KNOCKOUT PINK and feature dense paragraphs with numbered footnotes at the bottom.

A two-page spread from a publication. On the left page, there is a detailed wood carving of a rooster's head against a light-grained wood background with smaller, comma-like shapes carved above it. The right page features the word HANCOCK in a stylized, black serif font on a plain white background, with a diagonal line separating HANE on the top line from COCK on the bottom line.

A two-page book spread on a pale pink background. The left page, numbered 84, displays a square, framed wood carving of multiple rats. The right page, numbered 85, features the year 1711 in Roman numerals and text in Danish and English explaining a legal case where water rats were found guilty of damaging crops and sentenced to excommunication.

A two-panel image on a pink background, styled like a book spread. The left panel shows a detailed, layered wooden carving of a man's face with a mustache and turban. The right panel has black serif text reading Mekanisk Tyrk and Mechanical Turk, with page numbers 94 and 95 below.

A two-page spread from a book, pages 102 and 103. The left page shows an ornate, golden Art Nouveau lamp with a large dragonfly at its base and several lit bulbs. Behind the lamp is a wall with intricate wood carvings. The right page contains text in both a Scandinavian language and English about Wolfgang von Kempelen's Mechanical Turk.

A two-page spread from a book. The left page shows an intricate wood carving of a hand holding a DSLR camera against a pink background. The right page is filled with columns of text in both Danish and English.

A two-page book spread with a bright pink background. On the left page is a framed wooden relief sculpture depicting a close-up of a shotgun. The right page features the year 2005 in a large, stylized font, accompanied by text in Danish and English that describes a legal case from Fresno, USA, in which a person was sentenced to 52 years in prison for attacking a police robot with a shotgun.

A two-page book spread on a vibrant pink background. The pages contain columns of text in two different languages and feature several small, framed wooden relief carvings. The carvings show detailed, deconstructed parts of a police robot, including its tracks, a mechanical claw, and a mounted weapon.

A two-page spread from a book. The left page shows a photo of a wooden shelving unit containing panels with anatomical drawings of a pig. In the foreground, there is a wooden table and two chairs. The right side features a bright pink column with text in Danish and English about medical research using piglets as substitutes for premature infants.

benandsebastian

Silent Parties

€ 44.00

VAT included. Shipping costs will be calculated at checkout

Photographs by: David Stjernholm

Edited by: benandsebastian

July 2023, 160 Pages, 60 Photos

Hardcover

184mm x 308mm

ISBN: 978-3-7757-5542-9

HATJE CANTZ VERLAG
Mommsenstr. 27
10629 Berlin
Germany
E-Mail: contact@hatjecantz.de

According to Article 9(7) of the GPSR Regulation, no additional security information is required for books without supplements or special functions.

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Silent Parties is an artwork based on eight historic legal cases in which animals have been put on trial or robots have been at the centre of legal disputes. benandsebastian's recently completed public commission for the Court of Aarhus focuses on mute, nonhuman participants in legal history, spanning from a 15th century case involving a cock being tried for allegedly laying an egg, to a contemporary case examining whether life-size, singing and dancing robots at an American restaurant chain should be considered live performers. benandsebastian have collaborated with specialists working within the fields of law, robotics, ethics, anthropology and cognitive science, addressing ways in which nonhumans have been silent, but also revelatory, parties in legal history.

BEN CLEMENT (*1981, Oxford) and SEBASTIAN DE LA COUR (*1980, Copenhagen) have been working together as the duo benandsebastian since 2006. Their artworks, such as Department of Voids at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa and at Den Frie in Copenhagen, discover potential within gaps in institutional representation.