maria thereza alves Awarded the new school's vera list center prize for art and politicsThe Brazilian artist is honored for Seeds of Change, her “ballast seed garden” project exploring the social, political and cultural history of ballast flora in European port cities |
NEW YORK, November 29, 2016 — Maria Thereza Alves has been named the winner of The New School’s 2016-2018 Vera List Center (VLC) Prize for Art and Politics by an international jury of artists, curators, writers and scholars. The VLC Prize for Art and Politics honors an artist or group of artists for a project that advances social justice in profound and visionary ways. Alves, who was born in 1961 in Brazil and is currently living in Europe, was awarded the prize for Seeds of Change. Developed in various cities since 2002, the “ballast seed garden” project explores the social, political and cultural history of ballast flora in European port cities. Ballast is the dense material used to stabilize ships, and the dormant seeds than can be found scattered amongst this material are reminders and remainders of a complex history of human movement. Through the project, Alves reveals contemporary and century-old patterns, temporalities, and instruments of colonialism, commerce, and migration. Alves will be presented with the award — an art object commissioned from Yoko Ono — during an October 2017 ceremony that coincides with the VLC's 25th anniversary. “The jury unanimously awards Maria Thereza Alves the third VLC Prize for Art and Politics for her boldness in addressing, through art, urgent questions of resistance to homogenization of life itself,” the jury wrote in its citation. “By reimagining the historical geography of the contemporary world, she practices globalization from below to understand the planet as a holistic ecology. Seeds of Change tracks existing and historic routes of transport of goods and people while making visible the dormant potentialities of soil, seas, and people. Artistic excellence is expressed across mediums and her critical practice inside and outside of the art world is key to the precise forms of impacts her projects achieve.” “The history of human migration has never been more relevant,” said New School President David E. Van Zandt. “Through creative and scientific expression, Alves has made our past come to life through visual and oral art forms and, at the same time, highlights the importance of migration in the history of society.” The international jury was chaired by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, an American writer, art historian, and curator who was the Artistic Director of dOCUMENTA (13). The jury includes Ruth Wilson Gilmore, director of the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics and professor of geography at The City University of New York; Charif Kiwan, co-founder of the Syrian film collective Abounaddara; Carin Kuoni, director of the VLC; and Radhika Subramaniam, director and chief curator of the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at The New School's Parsons School of Design. The award constitutes a two-year commitment by The New School to Alves. In addition to receiving a financial reward, Alves will have the opportunity to participate in an international scholarly conference, give lectures, produce a publication, and feature her work in an exhibition at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center. Classes will also be developed around her work. Previous winners of the VLC prize include the anonymous Syrian filmmaker collective Abounaddara, which was recognized for its short documentaries highlighting the shared humanity of the Syrian people, and artist Theaster Gates, who is known for his genre-defying explorations of community, history, race, and politics. |
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Maria Thereza Alves (1961, Brazil, lives in Germany) is an artist. Alves was co-founder of the Partido Verde of São Paulo, Brazil in 1987 and in 1981 representative to the U.S. for the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers's Party) of Brazil. In 1979 while a member of the International Indian Treaty Council, based in New York, she made an official presentation on the human rights abuses of the indigenous population of Brazil at the U.N. Human Rights Conference in Geneva. In 2012, José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Union, asked Alves to be part of his special committee to formulate a New Narrative for Europe which was publically presented in Venezia. Alves’ work has been presented in numerous exhibitions at institutions and biennials around the world, among them a one-person exhibition at MUAC in Mexico City (2014) and a survey exhibit at CAAC in Sevilla (2015). Alves also participated in the Bienal de São Paulo of 2016 with a new work, A Possible Reversal of Missed Opportunities, which attempts to decolonize the imagination within the Brazilian contemporary context. dOCUMENTA (13) (2012) featured her installation The Return of a Lake, that focused on the deliberate desiccation of a lake in the now water-starved region of Chalco just south of Mexico City. Her long-term project The Seeds of Change Floating Ballast Garden, has been developed in collaboration with communities in various port cities such as Marseille, France, and, most recently, in Bristol, England (from 2012 to 2016). Alves is also a featured artist in the Sharjah Biennale for 2017. Founded in 1919, The New School was born out of principles of academic freedom, tolerance, and experimentation. Committed to social engagement, The New School today remains in the vanguard of innovation in higher education, with more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students challenging the status quo in design and the social sciences, liberal arts, management, the arts, and media. The New School welcomes thousands of adult learners annually for continuing education courses and calendar of lectures, screenings, readings, and concerts. Through its online learning portals, research institutes, and international partnerships, The New School maintains a global presence. The Vera List Center for Art and Politics is an idea incubator 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. A pioneer in the field, the center serves a critical mission: to foster a vibrant and diverse community of artists, scholars, and policy makers who take creative, intellectual, and political risks to bring about positive change.
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