Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes—The British East India Company on Trial
April 4–24, 2025
London NW1 5LS
United Kingdom
Serpentine is pleased to present a new chapter of the Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes (CICC), titled The British East India Company on Trial, a collaboration between academic, writer, lawyer and activist Radha D’Souza and artist and propaganda researcher Jonas Staal.
Opening programme: April 4, 6-8pm
CICC Hearings: April 5–6
Exhibition continues Thursdays-Sundays, 1-6pm, until April 24
CICC School programme: April 8–24
The Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes (CICC) is a project by Radha D’Souza and Jonas Staal that stages public hearings in immersive installations functioning as a court, to prosecute intergenerational climate crimes committed by states and corporations acting together. These hearings address crimes of the past, present and future, reflecting the intergenerational impacts of climate crimes on ecologies and communities.
This newly commissioned chapter of the CICC consists of a specially appointed court constructed within the former testing facility that is now Ambika P3 in London. It was in London that the East India Company was founded in 1600, and where the corporate entity would subsequently shape the city in its own interests and image. The court will interrogate witnesses regarding the crimes committed by the British East India Company, highlighting the interconnectedness of colonial and climate crimes that continue to shape our devastating present and future.
Non-human agents will act as evidence and witnesses in the court, in this case in the form of plants that played a pivotal role in the colonial and industrial projects of the British Crown and the East India Company. The audience present will have the task to act as public jury members. Putting the British East India Company on trial, 425 years after its founding and 168 years after its dissolution in 1857, expands notions of intergenerational justice. It raises questions about reparations for crimes that transcend generations and examines how dissolved entities, like the EIC, endure as legal, institutional, and ideological frameworks for extractive capitalism and imperialism, perpetuating ecological collapse.
Following the public hearings, Ambika P3 will host an installation with selected materials from the tribunals in combination with the CICC School: an ongoing programme of lectures, workshops, screenings and trainings to deepen the relationship between artistic and legal imaginaries in the struggle for climate justice.
On April 4th, an opening programme and reception featuring Radha D’Souza and Jonas Staal will introduce why we need to put the law on trial and introduce alternative legal imaginaries and tribunals that can ensure intergenerational justice in the face of catastrophic climate and societal breakdown.
Hearings schedule, April 5–6
Hearing 1—Saturday, April 5, 11am–2:45pm: The East India Company and the British Crown: Partners in Crimes Against Ecologies and Communities
Hearing 2—Saturday, April 5, 3:45–7:30pm: The Indigo Trade, the East India Company and the British Crown: Establishing Agribusiness, Destroying Interdependent Ecologies
Hearing 3—Sunday, April 6, 1–4:45pm: Trading with People’s Lives: the East India Company, the British Crown and the Violent Severance of Land-People Relationships
All hearings, opening programme and CICC School events are free, but booking is required. As audiences act as a public jury for the hearings, attending a hearing commits you to stay for the full session.
Commissioned by Serpentine Ecologies. Curated and produced by Lucia Pietroiusti, Daisy Gould, Isobel Peyton-Jones and Steve Wald.
In partnership with Framer Framed, Amsterdam (long term partner), Law Development & Conflict Research Group, Ecological Futurisms, CREAM, Ambika P3, University of Westminster, Creative Scotland, Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) and Create Ireland. With special thanks to Mondriaan Fund and Jessica Sweidan.
