Pablo Helguera Appointed Director of the Vera List Center for Art and Politics

The Vera List Center for Art and Politics (VLC) at The New School has announced the appointment of Pablo Helguera as its next Director, as well as the Director of The New School’s Art Collection, effective November 2, 2026.

An artist, educator, curator, and author, Helguera joins the VLC from The New School’s College of Performing Arts, where he has served on the faculty since 2020, following thirteen years as Director of Adult and Academic Programs at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. He succeeds Carin Kuoni, Senior Director and Chief Curator, who has led the VLC since 2004.

Helguera’s work as an artist and educator centers on socially engaged practice. He conceived and directed The School of Panamerican Unrest, a project of more than one hundred public programs across twenty-five cities in twenty countries of the Americas, and founded Librería Donceles, a Spanish-language used bookstore that has traveled to thirteen cities. His books include Education for Socially Engaged Art: A Materials and Techniques Handbook (2011) and Art Scenes: The Social Scripts of the Art World (2012).

Under Kuoni, the VLC grew from a small university-based initiative into an internationally recognized platform. She introduced the biennial Focus Themes, expanded the Vera List Center Fellowship, and conceived the Jane Lombard Prize for Art and Social Justice.

Work already in motion includes the center’s 2025–2027 Focus Theme, Matter of Intelligence, and the 2025–2027 VLC Fellowship projects by Moriah Evans, Mashinka Hakopian, Joyce Joumaa, and Kira Xonorika. Curator and Programs Director Eriola Pira will continue to guide Matter of Intelligence through 2027.

Image: Pablo Helguera. Photo by You Hah Kim, courtesy the Vera List Center for Art and Politics.