ai weiwei, renowned artist and chinese dissident, to participate in THE fear of art conference at the new school

The New School's Center for Public Scholarship Examines Attacks on Freedom of Artistic Expression; presents a discussion on Charlie Hebdo

Thursday and Friday, February 12 and 13, 2015 in New York

Ai Weiwei will participate in The Fear of Art conference at The New School on Thursday, February 12.

NEW YORK (February 2, 2015) – The New School's Center for Public Scholarship will highlight attacks on freedom of artistic expression—and what artists are doing to fight back—when it hosts “The Fear of Art,” the 32nd Social Research conference on Thursday and Friday, February 12 and 13 at The Auditorium at 66 West 12th Street.

The event will be Livestreamed here.

World-renown Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei will be the keynote speaker for the event, which brings artists, activists and scholars together to discuss the history of art censorship and the role of artists as collaborators and rebels. On Thursday, Weiwei, an outspoken critic of the Chinese government, will deliver his speech via a video he created especially for the conference. (He is unable to attend the event in person as Chinese authorities forbid him from travelling outside his home country.)

The screening of Weiwei’s address will be followed by a panel discussion with Jerome A. Cohen, Professor of Law, New York University School of Law; Melissa Chiu, director of the Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; Ethan Cohen, founder of Ethan Cohen Fine Arts; and Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch.

The conference will kick off with a panel discussion about the recent attack on the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo—a stark example of how freedom of artistic expression is under attack—with Victor S. Navasky, editor and publisher emeritus of The Nation; Nikahang Kowsar, Iranian cartoonist, journalist and blogger; Saadia Toor, Associate Professor, Sociology and Anthropology, College of Staten Island and author of The State of Islam: Culture and Cold War Politics in Pakistan; Alexandra Zsigmond, Deputy Art Director for the The New York Times Opinion Section; and Ben Katchor, cartoonist and Associate Professor at Parsons School of Design.

“Artists are attacked, murdered, imprisoned, and exiled,” said Arien Mack, director of the Center for Public Scholarship and editor of Social Research: An International Quarterly. “Art continues to be banned and destroyed.”

Additional panelists include Shirin Neshat, Iranian visual artist and filmmaker; Holland Cotter, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times art critic; Agnes Gund, philanthropist and art patron; Suzanne Nossel, Executive Director of PEN; Paul Chan, artist; Lisa Phillips, director of The New Museum; and Jack Pereskian, director and head curator of the recently opened Palestine Museum in Ramallah.

The Center for Public Scholarship aims to bring the best scholarship and expertise to bear on current, pressing social issues in a way that makes the scholarship accessible to the public and simultaneously deepens understanding of what may be at stake and how to proceed. It seeks to become a catalyst for events that draw on the humanities, social sciences, design, and public policy and have the potential of accomplishing our mission, namely, enhancing the public's understanding of the significant issues of our time. The Center is dedicated to promoting academic freedom and freedom of inquiry, goals that are rooted in the earliest history and ideals of The New School.

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Media Contacts:

Scott Gargan,
The New School
212-229-5667 x. 3794
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