In the face of virtual realities, social media, and disembodied existences, the Vera List Center for Art and Politics embarks on a two-year exploration of the material world, turning a focus back to the material conditions of our lives and examining “thingness,” the nature of matter.

Russian Constructivist artist Alexander Rodchenko once declared that “our things and our hands must be equal.” More recently, political scientist Jane Bennett has spoken of “vibrant matter” and called for a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between objects and people that may provoke more responsible, ethical and ecologically sound politics. Over the course of four semesters, “thingness” will be dissected, and thematic program clusters will be formed around topics such as forensics, ecology, speculative materialism, and biology. This far-ranging inquiry involves New School faculty and students with scholars, thinkers, and artists from outside our community.