If art is politics, is Congress a dance? Are apples oranges? Are artists, politicians . . . and politicians, artists? The recent U.S. presidential elections, following similar developments in many other countries, have made it abundantly clear: the political is a radically contested – as well as expanding – space where non-action, too, has political consequences. While voter turnout may be in decline, people are finding new ways to engage politics and defend their interests. In this condition, often referred to as Post Democracy, the Vera List Center is announcing its new focus theme for 2018-2020: If Art Is Politics.

For the next two years, starting in Fall 2018, programs at the Vera List Center for Art and Politics will explore this theme: if art is politics, how is it politically viable and does it acquire political agency? If so, how does it shift or affect the sites, practices and participants of political processes in ways that traditional forms of political involvement might not? If art is politics, does politics then take place in museums, in studios and on the street, and how are art’s institutions implicated in such a new political order? Does art as politics widen the definition of political constituencies, and if so, how? If art is politics, does it allow for the embrace of a set of shared values that transcend party politics?

If art is politics, where does it take place, how does it constitute political engagement, and who is participating?
If Art Is Politics gathers distinct strands of investigation and creates a constellation of research clusters on the sites, the formats and the participants of the political when activated by art. As we push further, and consider the efficacy of art as a political instrument, we will look at art as political practice through the lenses of class and privilege, policy and symbol, propaganda and aesthetics, scale and impact. Can the Vera List Center, with its public seminars, fellowships, teaching, prize initiatives, exhibitions and publications, provide a space of belonging for geographically, culturally and socially diverse constituencies? We propose to explore a new inclusive politics, one that transcends conventional political systems.