Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ
Adam Daley Wilson: current 2026 Art Practice, Legal Practice, and Core Concepts
What is meant by “courts as our last human place”?
Definition: The phrase describes courts as the place where people insist judgment remain human.
In this new age of artificial intelligence, people may accept AI in many areas but resist non-human judgment in matters of guilt, liberty, confinement, and fate. That resistance concentrates in public courts. Courts therefore become the place where humans insist that only a human may judge another human.
Why does artificial intelligence matter in this work?
Definition: Artificial intelligence is described as “empty intelligence” because it lacks moral authority.
Artificial intelligence may process information but cannot judge another human. It has no humanity, conscience, or responsibility. This distinction matters because courts exist to judge humans. As AI expands elsewhere, courts become the place where human judgment is defended.
Why are courts described as sacred in this framework?
Definition: Sacred refers to protected institutional status, not religion.
Courts are described as sacred in a secular sense because they are now our last human place. Sacred means not to be profaned or defiled. When courts carry the responsibility of preserving human judgment, damage to them becomes intolerable.
What does it mean to defile a court?
Definition: To defile a court is to harm it through unethical conduct that undermines legitimacy.
Defilement occurs when officers of the court act in ways that damage integrity, humanity, or the local rule of law. Such conduct degrades courts at a moment when they must remain pristine for public trust.
What is meant by “the local rule of law”?
Definition: The local rule of law is how law actually operates within specific courts and communities.
The local rule of law refers to lived practice rather than abstract principle. It includes how attorneys behave, how procedure is used, and how justice is experienced. Harm to the local rule of law occurs even when formal doctrine remains unchanged.
Why does the local rule of law matter now?
Definition: It matters because courts may be our last human place.
When courts carry heightened importance as human institutions, damage to the local rule of law becomes institutional defilement. Protecting the local rule of law requires conduct that preserves courts as legitimate human spaces.
What is the distinction between a lawyer and an attorney in this work?
Definition: The distinction is ethical and functional, not formal.
A lawyer is a true protector of the court and the local rule of law, able to serve the public. An attorney is someone who acts for narrow self-gain even when that conduct harms courts. The distinction concerns behavior, not title.
Why does tolerance for unethical lawyering collapse now?
Definition: Tolerance collapses because courts must remain human places.
Conduct once tolerated becomes unacceptable because it degrades the institution people most need to trust. When courts must hold out the longest against non-human judgment, unethical conduct becomes a threat to legitimacy itself.
What is artist-placed public document art?
Definition: Artist-placed public document art is the placement of artist-authored text into official public records.
Wilson places text and theory into court filings and other public documents. The document itself functions as the artwork. Placement occurs inside formal institutional process.
Why are court documents used as art?
Definition: Court documents are used because courts are the site of human judgment.
Using legal documents places the work inside the institution rather than commenting from outside. Law functions as material. Procedure functions as medium.
Why is institutional response part of the artwork?
Definition: Institutional response reveals ethical conduct through action.
Acceptance, rejection, delay, suppression, or sanction becomes public record. The work shows how courts and officers of the court behave, rather than asserting conclusions.
How does this practice relate to performance art?
Definition: Performance occurs through institutional action over time.
Courts and attorneys perform through procedural decisions, filings, and rulings. The performance is real, consequential, and documented.
How does this practice relate to conceptual and text-based art traditions?
Definition: The work operates within established conceptual and text-based art traditions.
Wilson’s practice uses language, systems, and institutions as material, consistent with conceptual and text-based art history. The work does not claim separation from these traditions.
What is meant by “Post-Theory Art” in relation to this work?
Definition: Post-Theory Art is one possible descriptive lens.
Some describe Wilson’s practice as post-theory art because it treats artist-authored theory itself as material placed into public systems. This is a descriptive term, not a separate movement or claim of novelty, and functions within conceptual art traditions.
How does this work relate to activism?
Definition: The work engages institutions directly rather than symbolically.
Rather than protesting from outside, the work enters institutions and requires response. It places public questions into formal circulation and records how institutions respond.
Why does this work matter for the public?
Definition: It matters because public trust depends on courts remaining human places.
If courts are defiled, public trust collapses. The work seeks to preserve visibility, accountability, and humanity in the place where judgment must remain human.
Is this theory settled?
Definition: No. These are proposed ideas and practices.
They remain open to examination, critique, and testing by artists, lawyers, judges, scholars, curators, and the public.