The Vera List Center is honored to bestow the inaugural Vera List Center Prize for Art and Politics on artist and urban planner Theaster Gates. Following the presentation of the prize, which includes an object designed by Yoko Ono, the artist delivers a keynote lecture. The lecture anchors Theaster Gates: A Way of Working, a two-day conference at The New School, and is preceded by the opening celebration of the gallery presentation of Theaster Gates: A Way of Working at the Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries.

“Theaster Gates’ project of historical reclamation, interrogation of archival legacies, and social construction of memory and cultural agency has it all tied together,” said curator and historian Okwui Enwezor, who chaired the jury that selected Dorchester Projects for the Vera List Center Prize. “Dorchester Project layers a meditation on the present African American experience by connecting it to the haunted remains of the past, making links with narratives of race consciousnesses, the Civil Rights Movements, but ultimately probing how the African American experience is enlivened by ongoing processes of testimony. Entering that installation is like entering a haunted space.”

Launched to celebrate the VLC’s 20th anniversary, the Vera List Center Prize for Art and Politics honors an exemplary artist or group of artists who has taken risks to advance social justice in profound and visionary ways. International in scope, the biennial prize is awarded for a particular project’s long-term impact, boldness, and artistic excellence. Following an extensive research and evaluation process that enlisted the advice of a jury and a nominator’s council of leading artists, art historians, and curators worldwide, Theaster Gates was named inaugural recipient of the prize for his Dorchester Projects. More than a single moment of recognition, the prize represents a long-term commitment to the question of how the arts advance social justice, how we speak of, evaluate, and teach such work.

Other events related to Theaster Gates: A Way of Working:

• Forum
  Wednesday, September 18, 10:00 a.m.–2:30 p.m.
  Thursday, September 19, 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
  The New School
  Theresa Lang Community and Student Center
  55 West 13th Street, 2nd floor
• Opening Celebration
  September 18, 5:00-6:30 p.m.
  Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center
  Parsons The New School for Design
  66 Fifth Avenue
• Gallery Presentation
  September 19-October 5, 2013
  Open daily 12:00-6:00 p.m., and Thursday evenings until 8:00 p.m.
  Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center
  Parsons The New School for Design
  66 Fifth Avenue

Theaster Gates: A Way of Working is part of the program initiatives of the inaugural Vera List Center Prize for Art and Politics. It is curated by Carin Kuoni, Director/Curator, Vera List Center for Art and Politics, and Chelsea Haines, Curatorial Associate, in collaboration with Theaster Gates, with support from Kate Hadley Williams, Studio and Exhibitions Manager for Theaster Gates, La Keisha Leek, Artist Liaison for Rebuild Foundation, and the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Parsons The New School for Design. Additional support is provided by Parsons’ Curatorial Design Research Lab and by White Cube, London. Special thanks to Yoko Ono. Founding Supporters of the Prize are James-Keith Brown and Eric Diefenbach, Elizabeth Hilpman and Byron Tucker, Jane Lombard, Joshua Mack, and The New School for Public Engagement.