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art on their behalf’ 6 while Van Marle insists that ‘[w]e support certain
procedures because we are committed to a certain substantive vision of
democracy and politics’. 7
The matrix of events that took place in the Faculty, conflicting legal
philosophies and differing political views in this debate are so multi-faceted
and multi-layered that I also believe that the topic plays itself out on three
distinct levels, namely the procedural, the practical and the philosophical.
These levels are the primary focus of this paper. Each relate to substantive
questions on day-to-day politics in institutions, the effect and impact (or the
usefulness) of art and intrinsic beliefs on the pre-eminence of human rights
(particularly freedom of expression). This is linked to the unique role of a
University and a Faculty of Law to create the space for this discussion and to
stimulate the ‘legal imagination’ to apply the ideas and principles uncovered
in this exchange to the work of lawyers and legal academics.
Against this background: In section 2, I offer some reflections on art and
its potential to induce multiple interpretations with emphasis on examining
the different reactions to art and horror art in particular. In section 3, I put
forward a different perspective on the question of freedom of expression as
regards the events in the faculty as well as in general society. In section 4, I
craft my own conception of the university as ‘open space’ and explore the
role of students in that vibrant space. After engaging critically with the issues
at the crux of the three levels — the procedural, the practical and the
philosophical — in which this debate plays itself out, only one thing will
remain clear: The need to widen the vibrant space for dialogue, debate and
disagreement, for ‘re-imaginings, re-figurings and re-orientations’, 8 remains
an ideal that the Faculty must pursue indefatigably in all its endeavours.
2 The politics of horror art
‘I think you can leave the arts, superior or inferior, to the conscience of mankind’
W.B Yeats.
If we accept that ‘[f]or art to matter as a meaningful social construct it needs
to be concretised on some level, while simultaneously embodying universal
6 Heyns (n 3 above) 9.
7 Van Marle (n 3 above) 19. See D Kennedy ‘Form and substance in private law
adjudication’ (1976) 89 Harvard Law Review 1685-1778.
8 K van Marle ‘Jurisprudence, friendship and the university as heterogenous public
space’ (2010) 127 SALJ 628-645.
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