The Fear of Art, the 32nd Social Research conference
The Center for Public Scholarship is pleased to present the 32nd Social Research conference, "The Fear of Art," on Thursday and Friday, February 12 and 13, 2015, at The New School in New York City.
We have chosen this theme for our next conference because freedom of expression remains under threat in both totalitarian and democratic states. Artists continue to be imprisoned and exiled and art continues to be banned and destroyed, all of which gives evidence of the power of images to unsettle, to speak truth to power, to question our cherished cultural norms and what we hold sacred.
The conference aims to examine how art can threaten, terrify, and provoke the wrath of political, religious, and cultural regimes. Speakers will examine the history of art censorship, the role of artists as collaborators and rebels, and the self-censorship of gallery and museum directors. The agenda also pairs artists and scholars to discuss activist art, the threat posed by art, the potency of art, artists at risk, and artists in exile. Museum and gallery directors will discuss the role of self-censorship.
We are collaborating with several cultural institutions to organize special custom satellite programs. El Museo del Barrio and The Studio Museum in Harlem have already agreed. (Details coming soon.)
The director and founder (1988) of the Social Research conference series is Arien Mack, Alfred and Monette Marrow Professor of Psychology at The New School for Social Research, who has been the editor of Social Research since 1970. For the history of the conference series, visit the Social Research conference series site. For information about other public events at The New School, see the university calendar. Find information about the more than 70 degree programs offered at The New School. For general information about The New School, visit the Quick Facts page.
The conference has been made possible with generous support from Agnes Gund, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Ford Foundation, and ArteEast. The conference is co-sponsored by The Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School.
Program
Review the complete schedule.
Tickets
You will be able to register soon at Eventbrite. We plan to livestream the conference. Stay tuned.
Location
The New School
Auditorium
66 West 12th Street
New York, NY 10011
Participants
Emily Braun
Paul Chan
Holland Cotter
Jeffrey Deitch
Ricardo Dominguez
Stephen Duncombe
David Freedberg
Boris Groys
Carin Kuoni
Svetlana Mintcheva
Shirin Neshat
Jack Persekian
Olaf Peters
Silvia Rocciolo
Ai Weiwei (keynote address)
Special Issue
Papers from the conference will be published in a forthcoming issue of Social Research.
