Vera List Center for Art and Politics

The Vera List Center for Art and Politics is a research center and a public forum for art, culture, and politics. It was established at The New School in 1992—a time of rousing debates about freedom of speech, identity politics, and society’s investment in the arts. The center is a nonprofit that serves a critical mission: to foster a vibrant and diverse community of artists, scholars, and policymakers who take creative, intellectual, and political risks to bring about positive change. Through public programs and classes, prizes and fellowships, publications and exhibitions that probe some of the pressing issues of our time, we curate and support new roles for the arts and artists in advancing social justice.

Vera List Center publications respond to and nurture a thriving field of politically engaged art practices throughout the world. With initiatives including edited collections, monographs, artist books, catalogues, and digital projects, our publishing work provides a space for writers, artists, designers, and scholars of all career stages who are committed to advancing the scholarly and creative dialogue on art and social justice through collaborative, creative, experimental, and urgent critical discourse.

Maria Thereza Alves, Seeds of Change, Vera List Center for Art and Politics/Amherst College Press, 2023 © Maria Thereza Alves

Cover of monograph of Maria Thereza Alves' 20-year project Seeds of Change, looking at vegetation in harbor cities to examine the history of trans-Atlantic trade of enslaved people from Africa during colonial times.

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Studies into Darkness: The Perils and Promise of Freedom of Speech, Vera List Center for Art and Politics/Amherst College Press, 2022

Three identical books with a black cover placed in a stack on a light gray background; a still from Amar Kanwar's film Such a Morning offset with a foil stamp. White text on the cover reads "Studies into Darkness: The Perils and Promise of Freedom of Speech, edited by Carin Kuoni and Laura Raicovich" in a serif font. Red, blue, and green edge printing.

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C& Center of Unfinished Business at The New School, Vera List Center for Art and Politics/Contemporary And, 2023

The Vera List Center's iteration of the C& Center of Unfinished Business at The New School, a roving reading room and exhibition conceived by Berlin-based platform Contemporary And (C&) that speaks to the persistence and presence of colonialism in contemporary life. On view at The New School April 1–May 26, 2023.

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C& Center of Unfinished Business at The New School, Vera List Center for Art and Politics/Contemporary And, 2023

This publication accompanies C& Center of Unfinished Business, presented by the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School (April 1–May 26, 2023). Edited by Re’al Christian and Eriola Pira. Designed by Bella De Angelis, Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism, New School for Social Research; VLC Programs Intern. Published by the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, 2023.

A key feature of the publication is an incomplete map of local libraries, reading rooms, and archives throughout New York City coupled with roving libraries and open access digital collections, referencing the itinerant nature of the C& Center of Unfinished Business.

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