How do we sustain politically engaged, community-focused art practices in times of ecological crises, the pandemic, a seemingly global playing field, and the persistence of colonial legacies? Foundations and NGOs play an important role in this ecosystem through their financial support but also through metrics of success which unleash such support. In this VLC Seminar, we look for more holistic approaches to program evaluation that respond to urgent demands for more equitable organizations and offer protocols and tools to support them.

The writers, artists, and curators of VLC Seminar 11 have all contributed to Forces of Art: Perspectives from a Changing World, a new critical anthology edited by VLC director Carin Kuoni that showcases broadly diverse evaluation practices today. Their conversation is anchored by The Case for a Panorama, a 360° VR tour presented by Mbali Dhlamini and Phumulani Ntuli, members of the Johannesburg-based artist collective Preempt Group, who are introduced by curator Kabelo Malatsie (Johannesburg/Bern). In conversation with artist and cultural producer Rocca Holly-Nambi (Nairobi/Port of Isle), Carin Kuoni and Kabelo Malatsie expand further on artist-driven protocols of evaluation and reflection.

When Visual Arts Network of South Africa (VANSA) was invited to evaluate a project in Peru for Forces of Art, they invited Preempt Group to run a workshop as way of changing direction of evaluation. In this new moment of evaluation, Preempt Group are presenting a workshop, looking at the technological present. The ten-minute presentation takes the participants through the principles of the panoramic image, as if we are presenting a criminal case, borrowing the forensic approach of presenting evidence within a court of law. The presentation takes this stance to argue within and against panoramic images
and various arguments around coding and decoding.

This seminar is supported by the Barbara Jordan Lectures: The State of Democracy and the Helen Shapiro Lectureship funds.

As for Protocols  Seminar Series
Led by Vera List Center faculty and staff, each monthly seminar in this year-long series is convened with a partner organization, collective or independent curator to examine a particular aspect of protocols, among them those relating to aerial surveillance, platform cooperativism, and jazz and modernism, enacting protocols and ethics for collaboration. Building on last year’s collaboration with The New School faculty and conversations started in previous sessions, each seminar is centered by an art project and accompanied by readings. It is presented as part of the Barbara Jordan Lectures: The State of Democracy series and supported by the Daisy Schapiro Lectureship.