The Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School invites applications for the 2015–2017 Vera List Center Fellowships. Two fellowships will be awarded, each spanning ten months and linked to the Vera List Center’s curatorial focus theme for 2015–2017, Post Democracy.

The Vera List Center Fellowships support individuals whose work advances the discourse on art and politics. The appointments provide the opportunity to develop further such work drawing from the resources of The New School, to expand on it in collaboration with students and faculty, and to bring it to the public through the Vera List Center’s interdisciplinary public programs.

A public forum on art and politics, the center structures its initiatives as public research projects around biennial topics of particular urgency and broad resonance. Through multi-disciplinary curatorial programs we aim at advancing our understanding of these issues—in 2015–2017, the notion of Post Democracy. Post Democracy has recently arisen as a complex and contradictory term: for some it promises a new lens for the mobilizing forces of social media, considered catalysts for political imagination. Others equate Post Democracy with democracy’s demise due to the penetration of global capitalism into every regime type and the increasing intervention of international actors in domestic politics. Sometimes decried as “democratic melancholy,” such skepticism is considered ill placed by yet others. Common to most analysts of Post Democracy is the emphasis on impact (or content) as well as of form.

Over the course of four semesters, Post Democracy will guide investigations into the nature of participation; the transformation of news media from educational tools to forms of entertainment; campaign financing and its potential reforms; new forms of political institutions and alliances that are flexible and resilient. In collaboration with the VLC Fellows and other program participants, some of the following questions will be tackled: How can new forms of social movements demobilize networks of power? What creative organizing tactics are being developed to reinvigorate a democratic ethos? The Vera List Center Fellows contribute to the intellectual foundation of the center, and through their fellowship projects advance the understanding of these and other questions.

Benefits

The VLC Fellowship is part-time, non-residential, and carries a 10,000 USD stipend. Each fellowship is highly individualized depending on the project. The Fellows are supported by a student research assistant, have access to a wide range of activities throughout The New School, and enjoy extensive library privileges. Meetings and informal gatherings with New School faculty, past Fellows and other constituencies are organized on a regular basis and offer opportunities for professional as well as social exchanges. Curatorial, organizational and financial support is provided for public presentations of the fellowship project.

Eligibility

Journalists, scholars, visual and performing artists, critics, public intellectuals, curators, and cultural practitioners working in any field where they engage art and politics are encouraged to apply. The New School is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution and encourages applications from minority candidates as well as from individuals without institutional affiliation.

Considerations

– Artistic and/or scholarly excellence of the fellowship project.

– Significance of the project to the candidate’s long-term practice.

– Does the proposal relate to the focus theme in explicit and creative ways?

– Does the fellowship project reflect and benefit from the association with The New School?
Timeline

August 3, 2015: Application deadline, followed by reviews by members of the VLC staff, the VLC Advisory Committee, past Fellows and New School faculty.

Mid-August: Finalists are invited to expand on their proposals.

Early September: Announcement of fellowship appointments.

Fellowship terms: ten months at any point between fall of 2015 and spring of 2017.
Expectations

– Public presentations in a range of possible formats.

– Participation in the life of the Vera List Center—biannual meetings with the Advisory Committee and, as desired, participation in study groups, classes, social gatherings and trips, or collaboration on joint projects with Fellows and others.

For details on the VLC Fellowship, application form and procedures, please visit click here.

The New School
66 West 12th Street
New York, NY 10011

www.veralistcenter.org