Event

A public intellectual, activist, and acclaimed scholar, Maurice Berger was the inaugural Vera List Center Fellow appointed in 1993. His seminal work as a writer, curator, and New York Times columnist has shaped the critical discourse on the intersection of race and visual culture in this country today. Brilliant, far-ranging, and astute, Berger’s practice encompassed pedagogy, journalism, and exhibitions: he was research professor and chief curator at the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; his books include White Lies: Race and the Myths of Whiteness, a finalist for the Horace Mann Bond Book Award of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research at Harvard; his exhibitions were presented at The Smithsonian Institution, the International Center for Photography, New York, UMBC’s Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, The Jewish Museum, New York, and other cultural institutions. For All The World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights, which opened in Washington D.C. in 2015, will continue to circulate through the National Endowment for the Humanities until 2025.

As a VLC Fellow, Berger was one of the key voices behind the lawsuit waged by The New School against the NEA and its introduction of an obscenity clause; he authored the first publication celebrating The New School Art Collection; he presided over numerous programs; and curated the film festival “White,” a razor-sharp forty-year history of the notion of “Whiteness” in film.

The five-day Vera List Center Forum 2020 is dedicated to the design of equitable protocols for engagement and the Vera List Center Fellowships. We are proud to launch it with a day of tributes to Maurice Berger whose work continues to inform ours.

For more information and to view the video footage of each event, please visit the links below:

This tribute reflects on the seminal contributions by Vera List Center inaugural fellow Maurice Berger. It is organized by the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School, with the support of Marvin Heiferman.

Race, Representation, and White Lies: A Tribute to Maurice Berger
1956-2020

Video Tributes
Organized by the Vera List Center for Art and Politics
The New School
and Marvin Heiferman
2020

WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF
(in alphabetical order)

Chelsea Adewunmi, Princeton University doctoral student; McGee Media
Lacy Austin, International Center of Photography
Dawoud Bey, Columbia College Chicago
Aruna D’Souza, writer and art critic
James Estrin, The New York Times
Wendy Ewald, Bard College; Vera List Center Fellow (2000)
Symmes Gardner, Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, University of Maryland Baltimore County
Thelma Golden, The Studio Museum in Harlem
Sarah Greenough, National Gallery of Art
Steven Kasher, author
Allison Kemmerer, Addison Gallery of American Art
Norman Kleeblatt, curator, critic, consultant; Vera List Center board member
Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr., The Gordon Parks Foundation
Thomas Lax, The Museum of Modern Art
Kristen Lubben, Magnum Foundation
Dwight McBride, President, The New School
Jason Moran and Alicia Hall Moran, producers and performers
Timothy Nohe, University of Maryland Baltimore County; ACE Fellow
Olu Oguibe, artist; Vera List Center Fellow (2000)
Kathryn Potts, Whitney Museum of American Art
Andrea Robbins and Max Becher, artists
David Roediger, University of Kansas
Sarah Rothenberg, classical pianist; Vera List Center Fellow (1995)
Michele Wallace, feminist and author; The City College of New York and The CUNY Graduate Center
Deborah Willis, New York University

With the support of:
32K Productions
Really Useful Media
The Black School
The New School
Vera List Center Board
Vera List Center staff, especially
Adrienne Umeh

Presented as part of the Vera List Center Forum 2020
© Vera List Center for Art and Politics