The Vera List Center for Art and Politics

The Vera List Center for Art and Politics (VLC) at The New School, founded in 1992 and named in honor of the late philanthropist Vera G. List, organizes public events that respond to the role of the arts in society and their relationship to the sociopolitical climate in which they are created. It remains the only organization with the exclusive mission to investigate the intersection for art and politics. Its director is Carin Kuoni.

The Vera List Center for Art and Politics hosts public programs that are articulated by the academic community and by visual and performing artists which bring together scholars and students, the people of New York City, and national and international audiences in an exploration of new possibilities for civic engagement. The center aims to create a platform for the intersection of art and politics within the public sphere. The center is based in New York, but engages the international community through its variety of public programming, classes, prizes, publications, fellowships and exhibitions.

Each year, the center identifies a topic of particular urgency and broad resonance and convenes artists, scholars, activists, public intellectuals, and political and cultural leaders to examine this theme in a variety of programs. The first annual theme for 2004–05 was Homeland, followed by Considering Forgiveness in 2005–06, The Public Domain in 2006–07, Agency in 2007–08, Branding Democracy in 2008–09, Speculating on Change in 2009–10, Thingness in 2011–13 and Alignment in 2013-2015. The current theme for 2015–17 is Post Democracy.

The Vera List Center organizes panel discussions, lectures, conferences, workshops, and online programs that are created in consultation with the center’s advisory committee and with current and former fellows. Occasionally, the VLC produces exhibitions.

All VLC initiatives are driven by the live encounter of artists, scholars, historians and other thinkers and makers who together consider topics of broad popular relevance. From these live events spring additional programs such as those featured on the Vera List Center website, including Art & Research Projects, Publications, and others.

The Vera List Center's website, is an online extension of live programs with links to debates, issues, projects, and people within and outside The New School. It includes video and audio of public programs, which can also be viewed on their Vimeo page, creative material generated in advance of and in response to events, special projects by artists, video interviews with event participants, and, more recently, downloadable Resource Guides to public programs. Also accessible are more information on specific exhibitions, publications, the Biennial Prize, Fellowships, student Writing Award, and the full archive of events since 1992.

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