News

The Vera List Center “As for Protocols” Seminar Series Explores Questions of Algorithms, Equitable Networks, Scientific Research, and More

New School News, April 29, 2021

A protocol is defined as the official procedure or system of rules that governs affairs of state or diplomatic occasions. More broadly, protocols show up in daily life as a form of language that determine how people relate to each other through a variety of different factors and contexts.

Last September, the Vera List Center for Art and Politics kicked off their two-year As for Protocols seminar series, which consists of six different seminars every year convened together with New School professors and faculty members, each engaging in dialogue with various artists, scholars, thinkers, and activists. The series seeks to expand the scope of the term, with a focus on protocols around language and communication, equitable networks, computer interfaces and algorithms, global health and development, data aggregation and narrative systems, culturally-specific community agreements, and protocols undergirding scientific research.

“As for Protocols is our biennial Focus Theme which informs and structures the Center’s two-year collective research and exploration across all of our programs, including our curricular activities,” explains Eriola Pira, VLC Curator. “The Focus Theme was further developed in conversation with faculty here at The New School, former VLC Fellows, and our board members to arrive at protocols as the visible and invisible underpinnings of human and non-human communities, from Indigenous covenants to computer algorithms, and exploring new protocols that might lead to more inclusive societies.”