Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum sagittis mi eu elementum malesuada. Maecenas arcu felis, suscipit vitae mi in, posuere ultricies nunc. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut ante velit, condimentum eget erat a, suscipit porttitor nisl. Pellentesque in semper nunc
(question–repeat–failure–record) is a choreographic lecture performance by Sandra Erbacher and Ruth Estévez, conceived as the first chapter in their evolving inquiry into the fraught history and enduring impact of intelligence testing. Taking the test as both subject and structure, the performance traces its entanglements with gendered ideologies and systems of bureaucratic control. Erbacher and Estévez explore how intelligence has been constructed and instrumentalized through data, language, sound, architecture, gesture, and institutional form, revealing how such tests privilege Western rationality and exclude embodied ways of knowing.
The performance interweaves historical and contemporary examples of how intelligence has been used to police bodies—particularly female, racialized, and neurodivergent bodies. Archival documents, trial transcripts, media clippings, and actual intelligence test questions are “performed” through montage, not as an aesthetic device, but as a means to challenge history’s presumed linearity, treating these materials not as inert evidence but as performable scores that resist closure. In this process, they attempt to unlearn normative metrics of intelligence and re-examine the forms of knowledge that have long been excluded, allowing phenomena and documents to “die” only to be reborn in new states and gestures.
This event is part of the Vera List Center Forum 2025: Matter of Intelligence.
Presented by Vera List Center for Art and Politics at Schools of Public Engagement.
This program will feature ASL interpretation. Wheelchair or mobility device seating is available. Please let us know if you need any accommodation when registering or by emailing vlc@newschool.edu.
Starr Foundation Hall is on the lower level of 63 Fifth Avenue and is accessible by elevator. There are accessible restrooms on that floor and an all gender restroom available on the 1st/3rd floors.
The nearest accessible subway stations are the 14 St-Union Sq L, N, Q, R, W and the 14 St/6 Av F, M, uptown only; and the 6th Ave L is fully accessible.
The Vera List Center tries to share its programs as widely as possible, which means recording our programming and making it available on the Vera List Center and The New School websites. By attending the event, you consent to photography, audio recording, video recording and its/their release, publication, or exhibition. You can view past Vera List Center events at veralistcenter.org/events/past.
Committed to amplifying diverse voices, The New School offers more than a thousand public programs and events each year, providing fresh perspectives and unique learning opportunities. These lectures, exhibitions, concerts, and performances feature prominent and emerging artists, activists, and thought leaders.
To receive updates about public programs and events at The New School, subscribe to our mailing list. Visit our Livestream and YouTube channels to watch select events live and recorded.
Sandra Erbacher is a German interdisciplinary artist based in Providence, Rhode Island. Working in collage, photography, installation, and artist books, her practice critically explores the archive as a site of historical production and negotiation. She holds an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a BFA from Camberwell College of Art, and BA/MA degrees in Sociology from Goldsmiths, University of London. Erbacher has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at Penumbra Foundation, Cuchifritos, ISCP, Spring/Break, GRIN, and Atlanta Contemporary. She has participated in residencies at Skowhegan, Penumbra Foundation, LMCC Workspace, NARS Foundation, and Artists Alliance. Honors include a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, the Center for Book Arts Residency, and the Chazen Prize. Her work is held in collections such as Fidelity Investments, the Stone Foundation, and the Tedeschi Collection.
Ruth Estévez is a writer, performer, and curator focusing on the development of new artistic fields of knowledge through research and interdisciplinary initiatives. She is currently the co-director of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Previously, Estévez was the Artistic Director of Amant, an alternative art space in Brooklyn (2020–23), Senior Curator of the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University (2018–20), and co-curator of the 34th São Paulo Biennial (2021). She organized the performance festival Idiorrhythmic at MACBA in Barcelona (2017–20) and was the gallery director and curator of REDCAT/Calarts (2012–18). Estévez co-founded LIGA-Space for Architecture and Spatial Practices in Mexico City (2010–). She holds a BFA in Video and Performance by the UPV at the Basque Country and an MA in Art History from Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM). She is currently finishing her PhD in Art, Education, and Research at the University of Castilla–La Mancha, Cuenca, focused on the aesthetic, social, and political shifts of collective creation in performance art, architecture, and theater.
