AICA-USA Lecture
AICA-USA Distinguished Critic Lecture: Saidiya Hartman
Nov 30, 2026
6:30–8:00pm ET
In-person and livestreamed
Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, The New School
55 West 13th Street, 2nd floor, New York
Scholar and writer Saidiya Hartman delivers the 20th annual AICA-USA Distinguished Critic Lecture at The New School, presented in partnership with the Vera List Center for Art and Politics.
Launched in 2007 in partnership with the VLC, the AICA-USA Distinguished Critic Lecture at The New School is an annual event during which an exemplary writer addresses seminal issues in contemporary art criticism. Previous lecturers have been (in chronological order) Kellie Jones, Hilton Als, Valerie Cassel Oliver, Siddhartha Mitter, Legacy Russell, Carolina A. Miranda, Courtney J. Martin, Aruna D’Souza, Paul Chaat Smith, Negar Azimi, Naomi Beckwith, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Lucy Lippard, Michelle Kuo, Peter Schjeldahl, Holland Cotter, Roberta Smith, Linda Nochlin, and Michael Brenson. Recordings of previous lectures are available on our website.
Fall 2026 programs of the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School are supported by members of the Vera List Center Board, Vera’s List, The VLC Producers Council, and the following institutional funders:
Alfred Taubman Foundation
American Chai Trust
Critical Minded
Helen Frankenthaler Foundation
The Dorothea L. Leonhardt Foundation, Inc.
The Dorothea Leonhardt Fund at the Communities Foundation of Texas, Inc.
Boris Lurie Art Foundation
James Howell Foundation
Kettering Fund
Mellon Foundation
Robert Rauschenberg Foundation
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
Wilhelm Family Foundation
The New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature
We also gratefully acknowledge the support of The New School, our academic home.
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