By Any Name (PDF) celebrates The New School’s 90th anniversary at a time when the university contends with a highly publicized period of internal criticism and activism. The voices assembled in this publication examine the school’s legacy of progressive pedagogy and institutional policy, and ask that it remain a catalyst for social transformation in the future.

The related exhibition and series of workshops and lectures, took place at The New School, October 19-24, 2009.

Produced in collaboration with students and The New School Art Collection, the collection guides provide a select self-guided tour of those works in the collection that relate to the center’s annual theme.

Public Domain collection guide, 2006-07 (PDF)
Agency collection guide, 2007-08 (PDF)

The Vera List Center has published a number of occasional papers based on its public programs. Except where noted, the following publications are currently available free of charge from the Vera List Center. For more information: vlc@newschool.edu.

Berger, Maurice, ed., Are We Ready for a Cabinet Level Position for Culture? New York: Vera List Center for Art and Politics, 1999. 20 pages, 7¼” x 10”. (PDF)
Proceedings of a panel discussion held on April 9, 1999, with contributions from Lonnie Bunch, Annie Cohen-Solal, Sondra Farganis, Frank Hodsoll, Sondra Myers (moderator), and Clement Price. Preface by Maurice Berger.

Berger, Maurice, Patrons of Progress: The New School University Art Collection New York: Vera List Center for Art and Politics, 2002. 22 pages, 17 color and black & white illustrations, 10″ x 6½”. (PDF)
Introductions by Sondra Farganis and Stefano Basilico.

Brenson, Michael, The Guggenheim, Corporate Populism, and the Future of the Corporate Museum New York: Vera List Center for Art and Politics, 2002. 32 pages, 6½” x 10”. (PDF)
Revised version of the 2002 John McDonald Moore Lecture, delivered by Michael Brenson on May 2, 2002.

Lalli, Alexia, ed. Havana. Patrimony, Patience, and Progress: Architecture, Urban Planning, and Historic Preservation in Havana, Cuba New York: Vera List Center for Art and Politics and Heritage Trail, 2001. 57 pages, 4 black & white illustrations, 7¼” x 9¾”. (PDF)
Proceedings of a conference held on December 7, 2001, with contributions from Peg Breen, Leland D. Cott, Mario Coyula, Victor Marin Crespo, Luly Duke, Roberta Brandes Gratz, Alex Herrera, Robert Mayers, Julio Cesar Perez, Linda Robinson, and Eduardo Luis Rodriguez. Preface by Alexia Lalli; introductions by Sondra Farganis and Richard D. Kaplan.

Martin, Richard, With Bustle New York: Vera List Center for Art and Politics, 1999. 28 pages, 9 black & white illustrations, 5 5/8″ x 9”. (PDF)
Essay based on the author’s contribution to the panel discussion “Fashioning Beauty at Century’s End”, presented in April 1998 under the auspices of the Dr. Sylvia S. Riskin Project in the Politics of Fashion.

On view at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons The New School for Design from October 15, 2008, to February 1, 2009, the exhibition OURS: Democracy in the Age of Branding was conceived as an interdisciplinary investigation of democracy positioned as a consumer brand. Including original commissions and works by Yael Bartana, Sam Durant, Liam Gillick, Aleksandra Mir, Carlos Motta, Trevor Paglen, The Yes Men, and many others, the exhibition was guest-curated by Carin Kuoni and Marisa Olson (web component) and accompanied by a newspaper-style exhibition guide designed by Project Projects. The guide contains introductory statements by the curators; a complete list of public programs associated with the exhibition and the Vera List Center’s 2008-09 annual theme, Branding Democracy; and information on artworks and participants.

The exhibition guide is currently available free of charge from the Vera List Center. For more information, email vlc@newschool.edu.

OURS: Democracy in the Age of Branding Exhibition Guide (PDF)

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2009/2010 Art Collection Writing Award. In a first, this year’s competition garnered entries from four New School divisions – Parsons, Lang, NSGS, and NSSR – by students from such diverse programs as Design & Management, International Affairs, Fashion, Fiction & Non-fiction, Writing & Literature, Media Studies, Poetry, Anthropology, and Fine Arts.

On April 20, the entrants celebrate their accomplishments in an informal gathering with acclaimed American artist Elaine Reichek, whose work Gauguin at the Harmonium was the inspiration behind one of the prize-winning submissions.

This year, the prizes were awarded to the following students:

$400 First Prize Creative Response
Carmella Laughlin, MA in Media Studies, NSGS
for her poem KIT KAT, written in response to Kara Walker’s Event Horizon in Arhold Hall

$400 First Prize Critical Response
Carly Dintaman, Design & Management, Parsons The New School for Design
for her text Tseng Kwong Chi: Alienated Tourist, written in response to the artist’s work of that title

$200 Second Prize Creative Response
Dorothy Krajewski, M.A. in Liberal Studies, The New School for Social Research
for her text Foreclosure, written in response to Elaine Reichek’s Gauguin at the Harmonium

The winners were appointed by a jury composed of:

Neil Gordon, Dean, Eugene Lang The New School for Liberal Arts
Carin Kuoni, Director, Vera List Center for Art and Politics
Joshua Mack, Vera List Center Advisory Committee
Rosemary O’Neill, Associate Professor of Art History, School of Art and Design History and Theory, Parsons The New School for Design
Robert Polito, Director, MFA Creative Writing Program, The New School
Silvia Rocciolo, Co-curator, The New School Art Collection
and, for the first time, a student representative
Tess Drahman, MA in Media Studies, The New School for General Studies

Inspired by the 2005-06 cycle of public programs, Considering Forgiveness is the first in a series of forthcoming books that examine pressing issues of social, cultural and political relevance from a multitude of perspectives. The Considering Forgiveness volume is edited by Aleksandra Wagner with Carin Kuoni, with curatorial advice by Matthew Buckingham. It features textual and visual contributions commissioned from scholars, activists and artists, including Anne Aghion, Ayreen Anastas, Gregg Bordowitz, Omer Fast, Rene Gabri, Andrea Geyer, Mark Godfrey, Sharon Hayes, Susan Hiller, Julia Kristeva, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Lin + Lam, Jeffrey Olick, Brian Price, Jane Taylor, Eyal Weizman and Elisabeth Young-Bruehl.

Table of contents and introductions (PDF)

Pbk, 6.5 x 10.5 in. / 268 pgs / 90 color
ISBN: 978-0-9821745-0-0
Price: $24.00

Review in Modern Painters magazine, June 2009

Available in bookstores, at online retailers, and directly through D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers.