Dr Elena Cooper
@drelenacooper.bsky.social
Arts Editor, Law & Humanities (UK academic journal published by Taylor & Francis). Senior Lecturer, CREATe, University of Glasgow, UK. Author of 'Art and Modern Copyright: The Contested Image' (CUP, 2018).
Pinned
Painting and Copyright in the Nineteenth Century
How does closely engaging with painting help us better to understand copyright history? A talk by Dr Elena Cooper
shorturl.at
Exhibition Launch: "Painting and Copyright in the Nineteenth Century" Thurs 20 Nov, 6–8pm
Picture Gallery, Royal Holloway, Egham. Time travel with me back to 19th cent, the time of emergence of modern copyright, in presence of one of the best collections of Victorian modern art. shorturl.at/sYnp8
Picture Gallery, Royal Holloway, Egham. Time travel with me back to 19th cent, the time of emergence of modern copyright, in presence of one of the best collections of Victorian modern art. shorturl.at/sYnp8
Paul Weller's lyrics capture my intellectual mood right now: 'Hidden in the backseat of my head; that place I can't remember where; I found it just by coincidence'... well, reading @dkennytcd.bsky.social👇 &, last year Watt & Raffield's 2007 L&H editorial, I realised I am a closet law & lit scholar 🤔
Is the legal world really too complicated for any abstraction?
@dkennytcd.bsky.social argues so in his new book 'Pragmatism, Law and Literature' tinyurl.com/yc5spfh3 as reviewed for us by @adamhanna.bsky.social - Find Adam Hanna's review here: doi.org/10.1080/1752...
@dkennytcd.bsky.social argues so in his new book 'Pragmatism, Law and Literature' tinyurl.com/yc5spfh3 as reviewed for us by @adamhanna.bsky.social - Find Adam Hanna's review here: doi.org/10.1080/1752...
Pragmatism, Law, and Literature
This book uses literary examples to make the case for understanding law and the legal system through the lens of philosophical pragmatism.
For pragmatists, experience is everything; they argue against...
tinyurl.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Paul Weller's lyrics capture my intellectual mood right now: 'Hidden in the backseat of my head; that place I can't remember where; I found it just by coincidence'... well, reading @dkennytcd.bsky.social👇 &, last year Watt & Raffield's 2007 L&H editorial, I realised I am a closet law & lit scholar 🤔
Art history conference👇 I spied quote from a legal theorist: "as Hans Kelsen wrote as early as 1926, political representation in parliament is a 'fiction' whose credibility must be permanently confirmed through communication"; that includes art. Legal theoretical underpinning to art historical qu ⭐
CONF: Visual Representations of Parliamentarism (Paris, 26-28 Nov 25)
https://arthist.net/archive/51102
https://arthist.net/archive/51102
Visual Representations of Parliamentarism (Paris, 26-28 Nov 25)
Andreas Biefang, Kommission für Geschichte des Parlamentarismus und der politischen Parteien. Deutsches Historisches Institut / Institut historique allemand, Paris, 26.–28.11.2025
arthist.net
November 10, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Art history conference👇 I spied quote from a legal theorist: "as Hans Kelsen wrote as early as 1926, political representation in parliament is a 'fiction' whose credibility must be permanently confirmed through communication"; that includes art. Legal theoretical underpinning to art historical qu ⭐
Delighted to be invited to blog about the fab JMW Turner exhibition that has just opened at National Museums Liverpool, as part of Turner 250 👇
'Turner: Always Contemporary', 25 Oct to 22 Feb, Walker Art Gallery.
www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/whatson/walk...
'Turner: Always Contemporary', 25 Oct to 22 Feb, Walker Art Gallery.
www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/whatson/walk...
Turner: Always Contemporary
This exhibition will mark 250 years since the birth of JMW Turner, exploring both the artist’s own work and his enduring impact on later generations of artists. Turner: Always Contemporary will includ...
www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk
November 10, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Delighted to be invited to blog about the fab JMW Turner exhibition that has just opened at National Museums Liverpool, as part of Turner 250 👇
'Turner: Always Contemporary', 25 Oct to 22 Feb, Walker Art Gallery.
www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/whatson/walk...
'Turner: Always Contemporary', 25 Oct to 22 Feb, Walker Art Gallery.
www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/whatson/walk...
Reposted by Dr Elena Cooper
Don’t miss the PHRC’s @phrc-dmu.bsky.social next online research seminar in photographic cultures & heritage, 27 Nov '25, 5.30pm. This time, we host Pippa Oldfield and Tom Allbeson for an inspiring discussion on Peace Photographies. All welcome free but registration required - tinyurl.com/he77wnsp.
Autumn 2025 #2
Research Seminars in Photographic Cultures and Heritage Pippa Oldfield Teesside University, Middlesbrough, UK Tom Allbeson Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK Peace Photographies: Rethinking Photo…
tinyurl.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Don’t miss the PHRC’s @phrc-dmu.bsky.social next online research seminar in photographic cultures & heritage, 27 Nov '25, 5.30pm. This time, we host Pippa Oldfield and Tom Allbeson for an inspiring discussion on Peace Photographies. All welcome free but registration required - tinyurl.com/he77wnsp.
Reposted by Dr Elena Cooper
CfP: announcing the 8th L&H Roundtable workshop 'Visions of Democracy in Art and Literature' @tcddublin.bsky.social on 19 Jun 2026. Submit abstracts to Roisin.acostello@tcd.ie by Fri 6 Feb @legalhumanities.bsky.social @sophiedoherty.bsky.social @dkennytcd.bsky.social @drelenacooper.bsky.social 👇
November 5, 2025 at 3:47 PM
CfP: announcing the 8th L&H Roundtable workshop 'Visions of Democracy in Art and Literature' @tcddublin.bsky.social on 19 Jun 2026. Submit abstracts to Roisin.acostello@tcd.ie by Fri 6 Feb @legalhumanities.bsky.social @sophiedoherty.bsky.social @dkennytcd.bsky.social @drelenacooper.bsky.social 👇
Reposted by Dr Elena Cooper
🎓 The CREATe Trade Mark Seminar Series — Autumn 2025
We are delighted to announce two online seminars this November exploring 👌 🧵
🔗 To register, please contact Elena Cooper: elena.cooper@glasgow.ac.uk
🖥️ Events are free and open to all
Read more 👉 www.create.ac.uk/blog/2025/10...
We are delighted to announce two online seminars this November exploring 👌 🧵
🔗 To register, please contact Elena Cooper: elena.cooper@glasgow.ac.uk
🖥️ Events are free and open to all
Read more 👉 www.create.ac.uk/blog/2025/10...
The CREATe Trade Mark Seminar Series: Autumn 2025 – Talks by Prof. Sonia K. Katyal on Empirical Methods and Dr Elena Cooper and Prof. David Higgins with Dr. Jennifer Davis as commentator on Trade Mark...
www.create.ac.uk
November 3, 2025 at 1:26 PM
🎓 The CREATe Trade Mark Seminar Series — Autumn 2025
We are delighted to announce two online seminars this November exploring 👌 🧵
🔗 To register, please contact Elena Cooper: elena.cooper@glasgow.ac.uk
🖥️ Events are free and open to all
Read more 👉 www.create.ac.uk/blog/2025/10...
We are delighted to announce two online seminars this November exploring 👌 🧵
🔗 To register, please contact Elena Cooper: elena.cooper@glasgow.ac.uk
🖥️ Events are free and open to all
Read more 👉 www.create.ac.uk/blog/2025/10...
‘Things do not have to be this way’ says Sir David Attenborough in ‘Our Story’ now on at @nhm.org. I needed to hear that from Sir D on a planetary level to find that hopeful space again re smaller things too; my list of topics is pretty long, but: let’s do it! Or do some of it! 🤔 shorturl.at/mm2WD
Our Story with David Attenborough | Natural History Museum
A spectacular new 360° cinematic experience.
shorturl.at
November 3, 2025 at 12:53 PM
‘Things do not have to be this way’ says Sir David Attenborough in ‘Our Story’ now on at @nhm.org. I needed to hear that from Sir D on a planetary level to find that hopeful space again re smaller things too; my list of topics is pretty long, but: let’s do it! Or do some of it! 🤔 shorturl.at/mm2WD
Exhibition "Information Noise Saturation", opening soon re work of artist J Nechtaval. I interviewed Nechvatal in 2013 re his creative use of tech; now as @law-and-humanities.bsky.social arts editor, I see that interview through new frame: new media art as "political praxis beyond aesthetic concern"
October 30, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Exhibition "Information Noise Saturation", opening soon re work of artist J Nechtaval. I interviewed Nechvatal in 2013 re his creative use of tech; now as @law-and-humanities.bsky.social arts editor, I see that interview through new frame: new media art as "political praxis beyond aesthetic concern"
Warmest wishes to all friends of @create-glasgow.bsky.social and @hunterianglasgow.bsky.social in Jamaica, at UWI Museum and National History Museum of Jamaica & beyond. Thinking of you all.. 🇯🇲.
October 30, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Warmest wishes to all friends of @create-glasgow.bsky.social and @hunterianglasgow.bsky.social in Jamaica, at UWI Museum and National History Museum of Jamaica & beyond. Thinking of you all.. 🇯🇲.
Well done @rosetheatre2008.bsky.social for a fab live production of Horrible Histories today; I'm a legal historian of this period & I don't think I could have explained the 'bloody code' any better! However, as a member of @create-glasgow.bsky.social, where was actor attribution? shorturl.at/ve2zg
Horrible Histories - Gorgeous Georgians & Vile Victorians
We all want to meet people from history! The trouble is everyone is dead! So it’s time to prepare for Horrible Histories live on stage with the acclaimed production of Gorgeous Georgians and Vile Vict...
shorturl.at
October 29, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Well done @rosetheatre2008.bsky.social for a fab live production of Horrible Histories today; I'm a legal historian of this period & I don't think I could have explained the 'bloody code' any better! However, as a member of @create-glasgow.bsky.social, where was actor attribution? shorturl.at/ve2zg
Reposted by Dr Elena Cooper
This Thursday, 30 Oct 2025, 5:30pm, marks the launch of our new Research Seminars in Photographic Cultures and Heritage @phrc-dmu.bsky.social | Delighted to begin with a talk by the wonderful Martha Langford. Attendance free, but registration required - tiny.cc/49au001 We look forward to seeing you!
Autumn 2025 #1
Research Seminars in Photographic Cultures and Heritage Martha Langford Concordia University, Montreal Through Line 1: The Ebb and Flow of Illustration in A History of Photography in Canada, 1839-2…
tiny.cc
October 27, 2025 at 12:57 PM
This Thursday, 30 Oct 2025, 5:30pm, marks the launch of our new Research Seminars in Photographic Cultures and Heritage @phrc-dmu.bsky.social | Delighted to begin with a talk by the wonderful Martha Langford. Attendance free, but registration required - tiny.cc/49au001 We look forward to seeing you!
Exhibition Launch: "Painting and Copyright in the Nineteenth Century" Thurs 20 Nov, 6–8pm
Picture Gallery, Royal Holloway, Egham. Time travel with me back to 19th cent, the time of emergence of modern copyright, in presence of one of the best collections of Victorian modern art. shorturl.at/sYnp8
Picture Gallery, Royal Holloway, Egham. Time travel with me back to 19th cent, the time of emergence of modern copyright, in presence of one of the best collections of Victorian modern art. shorturl.at/sYnp8
Painting and Copyright in the Nineteenth Century
How does closely engaging with painting help us better to understand copyright history? A talk by Dr Elena Cooper
shorturl.at
October 27, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Exhibition Launch: "Painting and Copyright in the Nineteenth Century" Thurs 20 Nov, 6–8pm
Picture Gallery, Royal Holloway, Egham. Time travel with me back to 19th cent, the time of emergence of modern copyright, in presence of one of the best collections of Victorian modern art. shorturl.at/sYnp8
Picture Gallery, Royal Holloway, Egham. Time travel with me back to 19th cent, the time of emergence of modern copyright, in presence of one of the best collections of Victorian modern art. shorturl.at/sYnp8
Welcome to Bluesky 👋 and I’ll be looking out for your news with interest 📸🎞️
Hello #photohist! we're now in Bluesky just in time to announce plenty of news! First of all, our Director of almost 10 years Prof Kelley Wilder left DMU at the end of August. We miss her deeply but we're in excellent hands as Prof Gil Pasternak has become our new Director!
October 27, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Welcome to Bluesky 👋 and I’ll be looking out for your news with interest 📸🎞️
Reposted by Dr Elena Cooper
We're also happy to announce the Research Seminars in Photographic Cultures and Heritage, which start on 30 October, 5.30 pm with none other than Martha Langford! The seminars are all free and online, and you can register here: photographichistory.wordpress.com/2025/10/05/r... #photohist
Research Seminars in Photographic Cultures and Heritage – Semester One 2025/26
PHRC is pleased to announce the launch of Research Seminars in Photographic Cultures and Heritage, a new, free, online series of talks and discussions exploring photography’s intersections with pol…
photographichistory.wordpress.com
October 23, 2025 at 9:41 AM
We're also happy to announce the Research Seminars in Photographic Cultures and Heritage, which start on 30 October, 5.30 pm with none other than Martha Langford! The seminars are all free and online, and you can register here: photographichistory.wordpress.com/2025/10/05/r... #photohist
Reposted by Dr Elena Cooper
We're delighted to announce the CFP for our #PHRC26 annual conference on "Photography's Tacit Knowledge". As in the past few years, it'll be a hybrid conference, online and in Leicester, o 15-16 June. Send your abstracts by 9 January! photographichistory.wordpress.com/annual-confe... #photohist
Annual Conference 2026
Photography’s Tacit Knowledge Image: A reproduction photographer at work. 1934 (Deutsche Fotothek). Photographic History Research Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK When: 15-16 June 2026…
photographichistory.wordpress.com
October 24, 2025 at 10:20 AM
We're delighted to announce the CFP for our #PHRC26 annual conference on "Photography's Tacit Knowledge". As in the past few years, it'll be a hybrid conference, online and in Leicester, o 15-16 June. Send your abstracts by 9 January! photographichistory.wordpress.com/annual-confe... #photohist
I loved editing this new Arts essay👇 fab interdisciplinary scholarship ⭐; unison gives way to polyvocal views. Do read to the end: this is 1st arts review of music in L&H & it flags creative space for future collaboration between lawyers, artists & those with lived experiences of rights violations.
OUT NOW: music & human rights scholars respond to Voices by @maxrichtermusic.bsky.social. "What is the potential of music to engage with a legal document?" Is Voices "just the revolution that international law has been waiting for"? Polyvocal essay by Glenat, Tuohy & Yahyaoui👇 shorturl.at/XY7Df
Accessing the vitality of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights as a living document through the music of Max Richter
Published in Law and Humanities (Ahead of Print, 2025)
shorturl.at
October 27, 2025 at 3:43 PM
I loved editing this new Arts essay👇 fab interdisciplinary scholarship ⭐; unison gives way to polyvocal views. Do read to the end: this is 1st arts review of music in L&H & it flags creative space for future collaboration between lawyers, artists & those with lived experiences of rights violations.
NEW ISSUE: Law & Humanities👇 In the Arts section, we place a 'spotlight on theatre': reviews of 3 recent plays connect dramatists G Slovo, J Tan & C Cunningham; tackling diverse subjects - Grenfell, repatriation & forced adoption - their plays highlight abuses of power inviting legal responses now.
In our new issue published today, we mark J.M.W. Turner's 250th birthday with an editorial discussing his 'The Slave Ship' (1840) which may or may not depict the facts of the notorious 'Zong' case (1783); the painting forms our new bsky banner☝️Editorial here:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Editorial
Published in Law and Humanities (Vol. 19, No. 2, 2025)
www.tandfonline.com
October 21, 2025 at 6:10 PM
NEW ISSUE: Law & Humanities👇 In the Arts section, we place a 'spotlight on theatre': reviews of 3 recent plays connect dramatists G Slovo, J Tan & C Cunningham; tackling diverse subjects - Grenfell, repatriation & forced adoption - their plays highlight abuses of power inviting legal responses now.
As copyright lawyers, we study creativity - we know there is 'creativity that counts' in law, & that that doesn't': copyright's rules have blind spots & privilege certain cultural practices & marginalise others. But have we thought about creativity & disabilities like ASD? tinyurl.com/3yrdvwwp
A key part of creativity is picking up on what others overlook | Psyche Ideas
We all constantly filter a flood of details coming in. This process helps explain what gives some brains a creative edge
tinyurl.com
October 20, 2025 at 12:13 PM
As copyright lawyers, we study creativity - we know there is 'creativity that counts' in law, & that that doesn't': copyright's rules have blind spots & privilege certain cultural practices & marginalise others. But have we thought about creativity & disabilities like ASD? tinyurl.com/3yrdvwwp
“The more fruitful question is not whether Woolf fits a medical category, but whether traits linked with autism shaped the originality of her vision – and what that possibility might illuminate.” ‘Why I wonder if Virginia Woolf was Autistic’, new blog on Aeon 👇
Whether or not Woolf would receive a diagnosis today, her traits and her way of experiencing the world contributed to the stunning uniqueness of her writing. Her stories open a window into a different kind of mind – and offer a glimpse of how an autistic person might perceive the world
Why I wonder if Virginia Woolf was autistic | Aeon Essays
Could autism explain Virginia Woolf’s unique voice? Her extraordinary eye for detail and connections suggests it might
buff.ly
October 19, 2025 at 8:43 PM
“The more fruitful question is not whether Woolf fits a medical category, but whether traits linked with autism shaped the originality of her vision – and what that possibility might illuminate.” ‘Why I wonder if Virginia Woolf was Autistic’, new blog on Aeon 👇
Prof Lee’s lecture explores interwoven histories of “British colonial rule in Hong Kong, British imperialism in China, & tBritish imperial law of extradition, 1842-1873”drawing on his book Extradition and Empire: Sovereignty and Subjecthood in Hong Kong. Great abstract 👇https://tinyurl.com/ysyknmyc
Historicising Extradition, Deportation, and ‘Disguised Extradition’
tinyurl.com
October 17, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Prof Lee’s lecture explores interwoven histories of “British colonial rule in Hong Kong, British imperialism in China, & tBritish imperial law of extradition, 1842-1873”drawing on his book Extradition and Empire: Sovereignty and Subjecthood in Hong Kong. Great abstract 👇https://tinyurl.com/ysyknmyc
Congrats to my fab student @alineiramina.bsky.social who now has a PhD! Aline's empirical legal thesis is on impact of tech on culture/arts: how do 'invisible' recommender algorithms, which push content to consumers, impact on creators? ⭐ 👏 🎓 Privilege to co-supervise with Martin Kretschmer.
October 15, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Congrats to my fab student @alineiramina.bsky.social who now has a PhD! Aline's empirical legal thesis is on impact of tech on culture/arts: how do 'invisible' recommender algorithms, which push content to consumers, impact on creators? ⭐ 👏 🎓 Privilege to co-supervise with Martin Kretschmer.
The LHUB programme @ials.bsky.social has been published & 2 items caught my eye: The Dance and Legal Materialities research network & the lecture 'Fictions of Hearing in the Law' by music scholar Dr Nomi Dave with Dr Danilo Mandic as discussant. 👏 Prof. Anat Rosenberg! ials.sas.ac.uk/events/dr-no...
Dr Nomi Dave, Fictions of Hearing in the Law
Law and the Humanities Seminar
ials.sas.ac.uk
October 10, 2025 at 4:47 PM
The LHUB programme @ials.bsky.social has been published & 2 items caught my eye: The Dance and Legal Materialities research network & the lecture 'Fictions of Hearing in the Law' by music scholar Dr Nomi Dave with Dr Danilo Mandic as discussant. 👏 Prof. Anat Rosenberg! ials.sas.ac.uk/events/dr-no...
Reposted by Dr Elena Cooper
'Planting of countries is like planting of woods. (Sir Francis Bacon, 1601)'... Metaphors abound in Prof Matteo Nicolini's new article on the 17thC transplantation of English law to America👉 doi.org/10.1080/1752... -
@matteo1977.bsky.social @lawresearch-ncluk.bsky.social @ljmuofficial.bsky.social
@matteo1977.bsky.social @lawresearch-ncluk.bsky.social @ljmuofficial.bsky.social
Horticultural titles. Seeds, gardens, and English law in seventeenth-century Virginia plantations
The article examines the production of English colonial legal spaces in seventeenth-century North America. Particularly in Virginia, their production revolved around the concept of ‘plantation’, wh...
doi.org
October 7, 2025 at 9:14 AM
'Planting of countries is like planting of woods. (Sir Francis Bacon, 1601)'... Metaphors abound in Prof Matteo Nicolini's new article on the 17thC transplantation of English law to America👉 doi.org/10.1080/1752... -
@matteo1977.bsky.social @lawresearch-ncluk.bsky.social @ljmuofficial.bsky.social
@matteo1977.bsky.social @lawresearch-ncluk.bsky.social @ljmuofficial.bsky.social
Out now in The Burlington: my review of Martinez & Roman Female Printmakers, Printsellers & Print Publishers: The Imprint of Women 1700-1830'. "pushes
back against the archival gender bias
that has informed
record creation & preservation"; important focus on prints, understudied cf to painting.
back against the archival gender bias
that has informed
record creation & preservation"; important focus on prints, understudied cf to painting.
October 1, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Out now in The Burlington: my review of Martinez & Roman Female Printmakers, Printsellers & Print Publishers: The Imprint of Women 1700-1830'. "pushes
back against the archival gender bias
that has informed
record creation & preservation"; important focus on prints, understudied cf to painting.
back against the archival gender bias
that has informed
record creation & preservation"; important focus on prints, understudied cf to painting.
Reposted by Dr Elena Cooper
Our colleague @drelenacooper.bsky.social will be speaking at @rhul-cvs.bsky.social where she will launch the new online exhibition 'Painting and Copyright in the Nineteenth Century' 🖼
📅 20 November
📍Royal Holloway, Picture Gallery
Learn more 👉 www.royalholloway.ac.uk/about-us/eve...
📅 20 November
📍Royal Holloway, Picture Gallery
Learn more 👉 www.royalholloway.ac.uk/about-us/eve...
October 1, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Our colleague @drelenacooper.bsky.social will be speaking at @rhul-cvs.bsky.social where she will launch the new online exhibition 'Painting and Copyright in the Nineteenth Century' 🖼
📅 20 November
📍Royal Holloway, Picture Gallery
Learn more 👉 www.royalholloway.ac.uk/about-us/eve...
📅 20 November
📍Royal Holloway, Picture Gallery
Learn more 👉 www.royalholloway.ac.uk/about-us/eve...