Rachel Vera Steinberg

Rachel Vera Steinberg is a Critic in the Digital + Media department at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and serves as Curator and Director of Exhibitions at Smack Mellon in Brooklyn, NY. Her career emphasizes time-based media, alternative art spaces, and gender equity through roles at SOHO20 Artists Inc (Director, 2015–18) and NURTUREart Non-Profit Inc (Assistant Director, 2010–15). She co-founded Custom Program, a Brooklyn micro-gallery focused on humor and site specificity.

Education:

• MA, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College
• BFA, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn

Her research explores cultural mythmaking, science fiction as a framework for exhibition design, and political-historical analyses of fact versus fiction. She investigates artistic agency and world-building methodologies, exemplified in her curated exhibition A faint hum at the Hessel Museum.

Awards and Recognition:

• 2019–20 Curatorial & Research Residency Fellow at Julia Stoschek Collection (Düsseldorf), where she curated JSC ON VIEW: MYTHOLOGISTS (2021–22)

Steinberg's exhibitions receive coverage in major art publications including Hyperallergic, Artsy, and Brooklyn Magazine. She lectures internationally at universities and maintains an active curatorial practice.