Contact [email protected], (212) 592-2408, or go to www.artcriticism.sva.edu.The Art Criticism Writing program at the School of Visual Arts is one of the only graduate programs in the world that focuses specifically on criticism and art writing. This program is not involved in “discourse production” or the prevarications of curatorial rhetoric, but rather in the practice of criticism writ large, aspiring to literature.
The practice of criticism involves making finer and finer distinctions among like things, but it is also a way to ask fundamental questions about art and life. The MFA program in Art Criticism Writing is designed to give students a grounding in the philosophical and historical bases of criticism, to improve both their writing and their seeing, and to provide sources that they can draw on for the rest of their lives.
Critics cannot afford to be specialists, so our curriculum is wide-ranging. In addition to the foundation seminar, Bases of Criticism I II, taught by chair David Levi Strauss, three levels of writing practicums, and the thesis seminar, we offer an array of continually changing electives taught by prominent writers and critics. We concentrate on the essay as form, as well as on shorter forms of review, and learn criticism by doing it. The thesis that students write at the end of their course of study is intended to be a substantial piece of criticism. We want students to come out of this program better prepared to write in the world.
From its inception, this program has had a special emphasis on the history and future of the image. The critics of tomorrow must study images in all of their manifestations in order to better understand how we are subject to them.
In addition to our exceptional core faculty, we invite many writers, critics, philosophers, editors, artists, and art historians in each year to give lectures and to meet with our students individually and in small groups. Recent guests include: Susan Buck-Morss, Sylvère Lotringer, Avital Ronell, W.J.T. Mitchell, Michael Taussig, Boris Groys, Leo Steinberg, Peter Schjeldahl, Ann Lauterbach, Bill Berkson, and Dave Hickey.
Our acclaimed lecture series at the SVA Theatre in Chelsea continues this spring with critic, curator, and historian Cuauhtémoc Medina on January 20, art historian and critic Johanna Burton on February 24, art historian and writer T. J. Clark on March 1, and writer and activist Lucy Lippard on April 7.
It is obviously a big advantage to have such a program situated in the heart of New York City, amidst the greatest concentration of artists and art activity in the world.
We are now accepting applications for the fall 2011 term. Generous departmental scholarships are available on a competitive basis. To download an application, go to www.applyweb.com, or contact us at [email protected], or (212) 592-2408 for further information.
To see sample programs, faculty bios, news, the Degree Critical online journal, and recordings of past lectures, go to www.artcriticism.sva.edu.
