Conversation

Resistance is futile: This is the lie authoritarianism always tells. No matter how absolute the regime’s power may seem, there are always ways to push back, to refuse, to subvert—although finding the interstices where action is possible may require immense courage and creativity.

Jumping off from Artforum’s May issue on Art and Activism, How Soon Is Now brings together artists, activists, critics, and institutional leaders to confront art’s responsibility in crises of accountability. How can artists and the systems that support them rise to the occasion? Are museums places of enlightenment, and if so, should they be held to higher standards than other organizations? What is dirty money, and what should be done with it? Can institutions satisfy their baseline missions without compromise? When is art a space for improving the world, and when is it a cover for nefarious activities? Can art do more—or has it done too much already?

Vera List Center Director and Chief Curator, Carin Kuoni, will introduce the conversation with:

Panelists
Claire Bishop: Professor of art history at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York
Tania Bruguera: Artist
Nan Goldin: Artist and Activist, Founder of P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now)
Tobi Haslett: Writer
Anne Pasternak: the Shelby White and Leon Levy Director of the Brooklyn Museum

Moderator
David Velasco: Editor of Artforum

This panel is a continuation of a long-standing collaboration between the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, Artforum and Bookforum, which has previously included talks on labor issues, art and money, and the Whitney Biennial.