Courtney McClellan's exhibition "Simulations" at the Shirley Fiterman Art Center in Lower Manhattan features deadpan photographs of empty mock courtrooms at universities across the American South, including a haunting simulation of the Supreme Court's chambers at Liberty University, an evangelical Southern Baptist college in Virginia. The show, which includes images taken over six years, is installed with blue borders and wainscoting that blur the line between architecture and image, placing viewers in the position of judge and jury while highlighting the theatricality of these spaces.
This exhibition matters because it confronts the current threat to the separation of church and state in the United States, using the sterile, theatrical mock courtrooms to evoke the fusion of religious ideology and legal authority. By focusing on Liberty University—a school with a controversial history of mishandling sexual assault cases and punishing victims under religious honor codes—McClellan's work invites critical reflection on how institutions train future lawyers and judges, and how performance and power shape the justice system. The show underscores the alarming reality that these simulated spaces are where real authority is forged.