FIVE LEAF Conference

Location: Lecture Theatre, Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS), 67-69 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3JB

Date: Monday 1 June - Tuesday 2 June, 10:00 - 17:00 BST

FIVE LEAF is an interdisciplinary research institute dedicated to law and aesthetics, based in the Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS) in the School of Law.

FIVE LEAF was founded in 2026 by Professor Johanna Gibson, who is also the institute’s founding director, together with founding members Gavin Sutter (deputy director), Mark Jetsaphon Niyompatama, Vasiliki Koukoulioti, Daniele D’Alvia, and Laura Edgar.

The five leaves of FIVE LEAF are:

• Fashion and luxury;
• Film and photography;
• Theatre and performing arts;
• Live art and performance;
• Architecture and culture.

A closing reception will follow the event.

FIVE LEAF Conference Programme

Day 1 – 1 June 2026

10.00 Registration and Refreshments

10.30 Welcome Address

Prof Johanna Gibson, Director – FIVE LEAF Institute for Law and Aesthetics – Why We Need Interdisciplinary Aesthetics in Commercial Law

11.00 Coffee break

11.30 Leaf 1 – Fashion and Luxury

·Mark Jetsaphon Niyompatama (Law, QMUL) - Clothing Silhouettes in High Fashion: Consumers and Copies

•Kiera Vaclavik (Modern Languages and Comparative Literature, QMUL) - Fashion: The terra incognita of Adaptation

•Erik Gustafsson (University of Gothenburg) - Fashioning the Future: Interlinking Industry, Sustainability, and Higher Education in Fashion Design

•María José Munguía Romero (Engineering and Materials Science, QMUL) - A Shoe In? Sustainable Design in Footwear

· CHAIR: Frantzeska Papadopoulou Skarp (Stockholm University)

13.00 Lunch

13.30 Tattoo art demonstration – Dr Adam McDade

14.00 Leaf 2 – Film and Photography

· Lucy Bolton (Film, QMUL) - Anatomy of a Murder and the Cinematic Aesthetics of the Rape Trial

· Ogulcan Ekiz (Cardiff University) – Looking at Photographs: Rules, Rules, and More Rules! Image Licensing in Academic Press

· Uche Bagot-Sealey (University of Westminster) – Authorship as Resistance: Black Women, Collaboration and Cinema

· CHAIR: Alasdair King (Film, QMUL)

15.30 Coffee break

16:00 Aesthetics of Story

· Textile Stories: The aesthetics of craft, cultural identity and personal narratives (curated by Rose Sinclair MBE, Goldsmiths, University of London)

· Dance Stories: Odissi classical dance presentation and performance (curated by Trupti Panigrahi, CCLS, QMUL)

17.00 Drinks

Day 2 – 2 June 2026

10.00 Leaf 3 – Theatre and Performing Arts

· Metka Potocnik (University of Wolverhampton) – Humanity of Songs: Feminist Reflections on Copyright Law and Creativity

· Aoife Monks (Director, Centre for Creative Collaboration, QMUL) – The Historical Category of the “Artist” Revised Through Theatre and AI

· Eden Sarid (King's College London) - Aesthetics of Drag

· CHAIR: Gavin Sutter (CCLS, QMUL)

11.30 Coffee break

12.00 Ocean-Lands – Film screening and discussion with Rikke Luther (artist, Denmark)

13.00 LUNCH

14.00 Leaf 4 – Live art and performance

· Astrid-Marie Heimer (Oslomet, Norway) – The Creative Space: Interplay between Intuition and Intention (includes demonstration)

· Rikke Luther (artist, Denmark) – Mud … and the Earth System. Thinking the Ocean-Lands

· Marie Hadley (University of Newcastle, Australia) – Navigating Grey Lines: Co-Producing Knowledge Across Disciplines and Boundaries

· CHAIR: Johanna Gibson (CCLS, QMUL)

15.30 Coffee break

16.00 Leaf 5 – Architecture and culture

· Jaime Stapleton (artist and writer, Denmark) – Law and Aesthetics: Generic Imagination and the Limits of the Earth System

· Stina Teilmann-Lock (Copenhagen Business School) - From Pylons to NanoBanana: Plagiarism in Architecture

· Guilherme Vasconcelos Vilaca (ITAM, Mexico) – The House as Vision and Site of Justice

· CHAIR: Laura Edgar (CCLS, QMUL)

17.30 Closing Reception

Address – Lord Justice Arnold