Application deadline: January 7, 2016
The Department of Media Study at the University at Buffalo is pleased to announce its call for applications to the PhD program in Media Study. Designed to support new communities of practice that have emerged in the discursive space between media art, the sciences, and the humanities, the program responds to the rapid development and transformation of media stemming from advances in information technologies and to the growing number of artists working in technology-based art forms.
Recognizing the fact that this work is not easily categorized and often spans disciplines that traditionally have little overlap, the program offers a transdisciplinary framework for practice-led and scholarly research that is highly individualized. Commensurate with traditional PhD frameworks, most credits are earned through research and independent study. Consequently, students are free to organize their course of study around their specific research interests. The dissertation combines both written and production components in a proportion and manner appropriate to the student’s research trajectory. We only require that the conversation between these two components be substantial and original. While this program is appropriate for artists looking to conduct practice-led research within an academic context, it is equally appropriate for artists who want to explore the theoretical implications of their work through scholarship. It also welcomes scholars who want to move from the purely discursive to other forms of production.
The Department of Media Study is renowned for its pioneering contributions to experimental film, video and sound art practice and theory. Today, Media Study adds to these existing strengths with an award-winning internationally active faculty with expertise in film and media theory, film/video, sound, robotics, social media, games, interactive fiction, documentary practices, digital poetics, mobile media and critical spatial practices. Students enrolled in Media Study’s graduate programs work together with artists and theorists whose work and research deliver formative contributions to current practices and discourses in the media arts. Media Study faculty include Josephine Anstey, Marc Böhlen, Tony Conrad, Sarah Elder, Loss Pequeño Glazier, Tero Karppi, Dave Pape, Roy Roussel, Teri Rueb, Paige Sarlin, and Mark Shepard. Media Study also maintains vibrant exchanges with many other departments across the University at Buffalo, the flagship institution of the State University of New York, including Anthropology, Architecture, Visual Studies, Geography, Geology, Comparative Literature, Music and Theatre & Dance. International ties with world-class institutions such as the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar offer students the chance to add study abroad to their portfolio of activities. We also offer computing resources and expertise not typically found in arts programs, enabling students to engage computational media on a deeper level. All students receive access to studio space and state of the art equipment commensurate with experimental media practices.
Our new Performances, Lectures and Screenings in Media Art series “PLASMA” brings renowned figures in media art and theory to Buffalo each year, including Tony Oursler, Martha Poon, Cory Arcangel, Geert Lovink, Gregory Ulmer, and Tony Cokes.
Buffalo and Western New York offer a vibrant art scene with a high density of museums and galleries, including the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, CEPA Gallery, Big Orbit, Soundlab, Hallwalls, and Squeeky Wheel. If you are an independent, creative, critical and self-motivated artist with a vision, Media Study at the University of Buffalo is the right place for you. Ask about our New York Program, too!
Watch for upcoming UB Media Study PhD-related events, including a theory-practice event in December 2015: Fictional Worlds/Possible Futures: Philo-Fiction as Method with Ben Woodard and Tony Yanick (the New Centre for Research and Practice), organized by Yvette Granata. The event will include a talk and media art practice-based workshop, and will invite digital participation, live streamed from the [email protected] Follow this link to apply.
Applications received after the deadline will be considered on a space available basis.
For additional information, contact Teri Rueb, Director of Graduate Studies.
