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 Aaron Levy is the founding Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Slought Foundation, which undertakes discursive projects that engage in contemporary debates about art, architecture, and social theory. Working across a variety of platforms and initiatives, Levy has explored topics such as democracy and disappointment, institutional memory, and the cultural politics of display. He is known for his collaborative approach, exemplified by the Perpetual Peace Project, which explores prospects for reducing geopolitical conflict in partnership with the European Union National Institutes of Culture, the United Nations University, and other institutions. Other collaborations include How to Get Started with the John Cage Trust, an interactive installation featuring a rarely heard performance by John Cage that will evolve over time through the participation it invites from its public.
Levy has curated thematic exhibitions on the local level as well as internationally. Among these, Into the Open, the official U.S. representation at La Biennale di Venezia (2008) explored America's rich history of architectural experimentation and community activism, with subsequent iterations at Parsons The New School and the National Constitution Center (2009). More locally, Cities Without Citizens (2002) at the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia explored contemporary concerns about citizenship and statelessness. He has worked closely with artists to encourage new models of display through exhibitions such as Gary Hill's Art of Limina (2009), Braco Dimitrijevic's The Casual Passer-By I Met (2008), and Osvaldo Romberg's Theaters of Transparency at the Neue Galerie Graz and the ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe (2009).
He has edited ten publications including Architecture on Display, a living history of the Venice Architecture Biennale, published by the Architectural Association, London (2010). Publications edited for the Slought Foundation include Blood Orgies: Hermann Nitsch in America (2008); Helene Cixous' Ex-Cities (2007); William Anastasi's Pataphysical Society (2005), and Evasions of Power (forthcoming). He has also collaborated with artists and theorists in producing multimedia productions featuring Werner Herzog, Dennis Oppenheim, Vito Acconci, Alain Badiou, and Peter Weibel.
Levy is on the Department of English faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, where he leads seminars on contemporary culture and curatorial practice; he also led the 2007-8 RBSL Bergman Foundation Seminar for the Department of the History of Art. In 2010 he will complete a doctorate in History of Art and Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds exploring US cultural diplomacy and the cultural politics of La Biennale di Venezia.
He serves on several public sector committees, including the Fine Arts Advisory Committee of the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Philadelphia. He lectures widely at universities and cultural institutions, including the Graham Foundation, Architectural Association, Syracuse University, and the inaugural Aspen Institute Cultural Diplomacy Forum in Paris, among others. As a critic, he has penned articles and interviews for a variety of publications including The Architect's Newspaper, Forecast Public Art, Tank, Cabinet magazine, and Rhizome.org.
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