SVA MFA in Art Criticism & Writing: Call for Applications

David Levi Strauss, Chair

Applications are now being accepted for the Fall 2010 incoming class.

Application deadline extended to
July 15, 2010.

School of Visual Arts
New York City
(212) 592-2408
Contact [email protected]

http://artcriticism.sva.edu

The faculty is joined by visiting critics and scholars who come into the program in various capacities on a frequent basis. Recent guests and lecturers have included writers and theorists Susan Buck-Morss (on “Visual Empire”), Avital Ronell (on Nietzsche’s defense of art), W.J.T. Mitchell (on Jacques Rancière and “The Lives and Loves of Images”), Michael Taussig (on drawings in anthropological fieldwork journals), and Sylvère Lotringer (on Paul Virilio and “The Itinerary of Catastrophe”); poet/critics Bill Berkson and John Yau; and critics Dave Hickey, Katy Siegel, Michael Brenson, David Craven, Joseph Masheck, and Eleanor Heartney. Our Spring 2010 lecture series in the SVA Theatre on 23rd Street included Boris Groys (“Everybody Is an Artist”), Ann Lauterbach (“The Given and the Chosen: A Meditation”), Alfredo Jaar (screening his film The Ashes of Pasolini, followed by a discussion with David Levi Strauss on Pasolini’s importance as a poet and critic), and Shirin Neshat (screening sections of her new film Women Without Men, and discussing the transition of her work from photography and installation to cinema).

In addition to the required foundation courses in the historical and philosophical bases of criticism, students participate in three levels of writing practicums, leading to the completion of their thesis in the final term. The small class size allows a great deal of one-on-one time with the faculty and extensive dialogue with other students. 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 work of criticism.

From its inception, this program has had a special emphasis on the history and current transformations 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.

To apply online, go to http://artcriticism.sva.edu/admissions.html . Generous departmental scholarships are available on a competitive basis.