Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes:
The East India Company on Trial
Serpentine and Framer Framed in collaboration with LDC and CREAM at the University of Westminster present:
4–24 April 2025
Ambika P3
University of Westminster
35 Marylebone Road
London NW1 5LS
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 concrete hall of 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.
Please note, all events are free, but booking is required. Please find the relevant links below. As audiences act as a public jury for the hearings, attending a hearing commits you to stay for the full session, please refer to the schedule below.
Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes (CICC): The British East India Company on Trial is a project by Radha D’Souza and Jonas Staal.
Commissioned and produced by Serpentine Ecologies. 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.
For more information, visit https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/court-for-intergenerational-climate-crimes-cicc
Programme
Fri 4 April, 6–9pm
Sat 5 April, 11am–2:45pm
Sat 5 April, 3:45–7:30pm
Sun 6 April, 1–4:45pm
CICC Exhibition
10–24 April
Thursdays–Sundays
1–6pm
This exhibition will show video documentation of the three cases listed above as well as earlier iterations of the Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes in Amsterdam (2021) and Gwangju (2022).
No booking required.
CICC School