THE NEW SCHOOL: ART & DESIGN PUBLIC PROGRAMS

Fall 2011

NEW YORK, October 3, 2011—The New School, including Parsons The New School for Design and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, announces its fall art and design programming.

The Sheila C. Johnson Design Center (SJDC) presents U-n-f-o-l-d (through Dec. 15), an exhibition of work by artists, musicians, and writers who participated in Cape Farewell expeditions to the High Arctic and Andes to witness the effects of climate change firsthand. The works on view, by cultural figures like Feist, Ian McEwan, and Jarvis Cocker, were all created in response to the experience.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A FULL CALENDAR OF EVENTS IS AVAILABLE HERE.

In timing with U-n-f-o-l-d, the SJDC will present a series of events expanding on the exhibition's themes, including A Taste of Climate Change: Urban Reforestation in NYC (Nov. 9), a presentation of edible infographics on the MillionTreesNYC initiative by the culinary performance group a razor, a shiny knife; Southern Discomforts: A Focus on Antarctica (Nov. 29), a discussion featuring artists Paul Miller (aka: DJ Spooky), Xavier Cortada, and Andrea Polli, moderated by Simone Douglas; and a preview of a new piece by performance artist Cynthia Hopkins (Dec. 6).

The School of Art, Media and Technology (AMT) at Parsons will explore how representations of science, technology, and social engineering intersect with visual cultural expressions of the African Diaspora through the inaugural Transdisciplinary Seminar on Afrofuturism. Using science fiction as its point of departure, the speakers will present work and discuss the influence of this emerging movement. Speakers include Julie Mehretu (Oct. 4), Kodwo Eshun (Oct. 25), Mendi + Keith Obadike (Nov. 15), and Nalo Hopkinson (Nov. 29). A number of other notable artists and designers will give lectures as part of AMT's ongoing visiting artist series, including Wafaa Bilal (Oct. 5), Trenton Doyle Hancock (Oct. 19), Slavs and Tartars (Nov. 9), Liam Gillick (Nov. 19), and Dana Schutz (Dec. 7).

In celebration of its new urban graduate programs, which will launch in fall 2012, Parsons will present Design and Urban Practice, a series of discussions on grassroots projects that have successfully transformed urban spaces. Participants include Brenda Rosen (Oct. 5), executive director of Common Ground; Paul White (Oct. 19), executive director of Transportation Alternatives; and Robert Hammond (Nov. 16), executive director of Friends of the High Line.

The Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School (VLC) will continue its partnership with the Public Art Fund with a lecture by Alaska-based Italian artist Paolo Pivi (Oct. 5). In addition, the VLC will partner with the Bronx Museum of the Arts to host Beyond the Super Square: On the Corner of Art and Architecture (Oct. 28), a roundtable conversation and reception inaugurating a three-day conference on the influence of modern architecture on contemporary Latin American art.

Located in the heart of New York's Greenwich Village, The New School is a center of academic excellence where intellectual and artistic freedoms thrive. Among its seven schools are Parsons The New School for Design, one of the world's most prestigious and comprehensive schools of art and design. Among its many centers is the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, which serves as a catalyst for discourse on the role of the arts in society and their relationship with the socio-political climate in which they are created. For more information, please visit www.newschool.edu.

###

COMMUNICATIONS AND EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

PRESS RELEASE

Media Contacts:

Kate McCormick
212.229.5667 x3794
[email protected]

Deborah Kirschner
212.229.5667 x4310
[email protected]