Party, Prize Ceremony

A week-long Noir Festival rules The New School from April 1 to 9. One of its highlights is a reading of original texts by New School students. Organized by the Vera List Center for Art and Politics and the MFA Creative Writing program, the reading presents student perspectives from programs as diverse as philosophy, performance, and literature. Among the presenters are the winners of the 2010-2011 Vera List New School Art Collection Writing Award, whose texts reference works in the university’s collection by artists such as Whitfield Lovell, Robert Mangold, and Adrian Piper.

Named in honor of the late philanthropist Vera List, whose support was catalytic for both the Vera List Center for Art and Politics and The New School Art Collection, the writing awards are given annually to honor the best essays by New School students inspired by works in the university’s art collection.

This year, the award ceremony is part of the Noir Festival, and writings evidence in either style or subject matter a distinct noir sensibility. Among other festival highlights are Marc Ribot in concert; a screening of Blood Simple followed by a conversation with Frances McDormand; a screening of Fantomas with a panel discussion; a performance of The White Devil, the 1612 Jacobean revenge tragedy by John Webster; a concert of Michael Gray performing blues by Blind Willie McTell; a screening of Guy Maddin’s lost films; as well as many new works created by the New School community.

The 2010-2011 Vera List New School Art Collection Writing Award Winners
Edwin Rivera, New School Writing Program, MFA in Creative Writing, Concentration: Fiction
First Prize ($400)
For his short story “ATONE FOR JOAN’S BONES”
Inspired by Adrian Piper, Let’s Talk, 1992
On view in Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Building, 66 West 12th Street, 4th floor hallway

Lenea Grace, New School Writing Program, MFA in Creative Writing, Concentration: Poetry
Second Prize (tie) ($200)
For her poem “Pressure Drop”
Inspired by Robert Mangold, Frames and Ellipses, 1988
On view at Albert and Vera List Academic Center, 79 Fifth Avenue, 11th floor hallway

Tikva Hecht, New School for Social Research, MA in Philosophy
Second Prize (tie) ($200)
For her short story “Bird’s Eye”
Inspired by Whitfield Lovell, Uncle, 1990
On view at Fanton Hall/Welcome Center, 72 Fifth Avenue, 7th floor hallway

The 2010-2011 Vera List New School Art Collection Writing Award Jury
Althea Hanke-Hills, MFA in Creative Writing, The New School for General Studies
Carin Kuoni, Director, Vera List Center for Art and Politics
Joshua Mack, Vera List Center Advisory Committee
Rosemary O’Neill, Associate Professor of Art History, School of Art and Design History and Theory, Parsons The New School for Design
Robert Polito, Director, Writing Program and MFA in Creative Writing
Silvia Rocciolo, Co-curator, The New School Art Collection
Wendy Walters, Associate Professor of Literary Studies, Eugene Lang College and The New School for Social Research

Noir Festival at The New School April 1 – 9, 2011.
The term noir itself was coined in 1946 by a French film critic who on seeing some American films after World War II for the first time – The Maltese Falcon; Double Indemnity; Laura; and Murder, My Sweet – focused on their similarities, and labeled what he saw noir, or “black.” Noir thus became the name for a post-war genre of morally-ambiguous crime films and the novels that sometimes inspired them.

Today, noir is no longer exclusively a matter of moody lighting and cynical gunplay. It is as contemporary as the noir films of David Lynch, as deeply rooted in high modernist sensibilities as the plays of Samuel Beckett or the operas of Alban Berg, and as politically subversive as the art of Ross Bleckner or Zoe Leonard.