Abstract

In bourgeois societies, the dominant dispositif that regulates how past wrongs are dealt with is juridical. Can or should radical political movements in general and critical artistic interventions in particular also make use of that form of court? I discuss this question in light of an argument between Michel Foucault and two Maoist comrades on the question of popular justice. I present the German NSU tribunals as best practice examples: They show how the form and content of tribunals can be put into tension in such a way that makes them re-usable as an aesthetic medium of transformative politics.