The Vera List Center is pleased to announce the Vera List Center Forum 2020, an international, annual convening of artists, curators, and activists in the fields of art and politics, presented online from October 6 to 10. This year’s forum introduces the center’s new 2020-2022 focus theme As for Protocols, and over five days highlights the Vera List Center’s vibrant and expanding fellowship program culminating on October 10 with the announcement of the Jane Lombard Fellows and recipient of the 2020-2022 Jane Lombard Prize for Art and Social Justice.

A tribute to scholar and public intellectual Maurice Berger (1956-2020) launches the forum on October 6. The center’s inaugural fellow and a columnist for the New York Times, Berger advanced the studies of race and representation, and his achievements are illuminated by Courtney R. Baker, Lonnie G. Bunch III, Nona Faustine, David Gonzalez, and Sarah Lewis, in a discussion moderated by Kinshasha Holman Conwill. The gathering includes a protocol-directed performance composed by VLC Fellow Robert Sember, video tribute by some of Maurice Berger’s colleagues and peers, and VLC Fellow Sarah Rothenberg’s piano recital of Morton Feldman’s last composition, Palais de Mari, recorded earlier this year and dedicated to Berger.

October 7 and 8 feature screenings, presentations, and conversations with the 2020-2022 VLC Fellows and their guests: Carolina Caycedo with poet and MacArthur Fellow Natalie Diaz; Etcétera with scholar Jennifer Ponce de León; Maria Hupfield with Leanne Betasamosake Simpson; Adelita Husni Bey with Robert Sember; and a talk by Rasheedah Phillips with a response by Mia White.

On October 9, scholar Alexander R. Galloway delivers the keynote lecture The Computable and the Uncomputable.

The VLC Forum 2020 concludes on October 10 with What Protocols Are Needed Now?, a conversation with curators Ivet Curlin/WHW, Natasha Ginwala, Candice Hopkins, Shuddhabrata Sengupta, and activist Tamara Oyola-Santiago. The recipient of the 2020-2022 Jane Lombard Prize for Art and Social Justice and the Jane Lombard Fellows will be announced with leading artists and practitioners in the field of art and social justice gathering from around the world.

Vera List Center Forum 2020
Program

Learn more about each day of our program and register for events by clicking the title.

Tuesday, October 6
4–5 pm EDT The Berger Project: A Tribute to Maurice Berger, Part I 
Performative reading by Molly Rose Kaufman, Michael A. Roberson, and Robert Sember.

6–7:30 pm EDT  On Race, Representation, and White Lies: A Tribute to Maurice Berger, Part II
Conversation with Courtney R. Baker, Lonnie G. Bunch III, David Gonzalez, Nona Faustine, and Sarah Lewis, moderated by Kinshasha Holman Conwill.

9–10 pm EDT Palais de Mari: A Tribute to Maurice Berger, Part III
Piano recital by Sarah Rothenberg preceded by video tributes.

Wednesday, October 7
5–6 pm EDT Borderlands: VLC Fellow Carolina Caycedo in Conversation with Natalie Diaz

7–8 pm EDT Gathering: VLC Fellow Adelita Husni Bey in Dialogue with Robert Sember

Thursday, October 8
2–3 pm EDT From Errorism to NEO-EXTRA-ACTIVISM: VLC Fellow Etcétera with Jennifer Ponce de León 

5–6 pm EDT Protocols: VLC Fellow Maria Hupfield in Conversation with Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

7–8 pm EDT Towards a Temporal Rezoning: Unmapping the Time Zones: VLC Fellow Rasheedah Phillips with Mia White

Friday, October 9
6:30 pm EDT The Computable and the Uncomputable
Keynote Lecture by Alexander R. Galloway.

Saturday, October 10
11 am EDT What Protocols Are Needed Now?
Convening with Ivet Ćurlin, Natasha Ginwala, Candice Hopkins, Tamara Oyola-Santiago, and Shuddhabrata Sengupta, moderated by Carin Kuoni.

12 pm EDT Announcement of the Jane Lombard Fellows and recipient of the 2020-2022 Jane Lombard Prize for Art and Social Justice.

The Vera List Center Forum 2020 launches the center’s 2020-2022 focus theme, As for Protocols. It is curated by Carin Kuoni and Eriola Pira and organized and convened with the support of Adrienne Umeh, Heran Abate, Joshua van Biema, and Maryna Arabei.

 The Vera List Center Forum 2020 is made possible by major support from Jane Lombard and the Kettering Fund, as well as the Boris Lurie Art Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Sigrid Rausing Trust, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The New School as well as members of the Vera List Center’s board and other individuals.

Media sponsor: Hyperallergic

The Vera List Center Forum 2020 will be livestreamed with live ASL interpretation and captioning.