San Francisco Art Institute
http://www.sfai.edu
The San Francisco Art Institute‘s graduate programs in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies are currently accepting applications for the fall 2009 semester. Now in their third year and recently enjoying their first class of graduates (May 2008), SFAI’s Master of Arts programs in
• Exhibition and Museum Studies,
• History and Theory of Contemporary Art, and
• Urban Studies
invite motivated, intellectually curious students from the broadest range of backgrounds and interests to join an ongoing, crossdisciplinary dialogue on contemporary global art theory and practice.
With the general aim of preparing students to confront, with critical acuity and creative response, an increasingly complicated geopolitical horizon, SFAI’s graduate programs in interdisciplinary studies challenge students to move beyond the formal, chronological study of the Western canon toward an inclusively global, synchronic perspective that emphasizes conceptual and comparative approaches. Learning by example to imagine and implement innovative and unconventional solutions to problems that extend well beyond the classroom into the real world, the MA student at SFAI, in continuous dialogue with his or her peers, works with artists, critics, curators, designers, historians, philosophers, and theorists from an expansive array of disciplines. Through a combination of critiques, colloquia, intensives, practicums, seminars, studio courses, symposia, travel courses, and tutorials, the MA student prepares for a future in arts administration; art writing and criticism; curating; gallery and museum work; cultural and public policy development; foundations professions; civic government; and PhD programs in such disciplines as cultural studies, media studies, visual studies, and art history.
Distinguished SFAI faculty members who teach in, and design courses for, the School of Interdisciplinary Studies include Robin Balliger (chair, Urban Studies), Vivian Bobka, Chris Bratton (SFAI president), Clark Buckner, Dale Carrico, Terri Cohn, Claire Daigle, Ella Diaz, Carolyn Duffey, Stephanie Ellis, Okwui Enwezor (SFAI dean of Academic Affairs), Renée Green (SFAI dean of Graduate Studies), Sarah Hamill, Glen Helfand, Hou Hanru (chair, Exhibition and Museum Studies and SFAI director of Exhibitions and Public Programs), Paul Klein (chair, Design and Technology), Henrik Lebuhn, Natalie Loveless, Krista Lynes, Derek Murray, Soraya Murray, Julian Myers, Mark Van Proyen, Jeannene Przyblyski (chair, History and Theory of Contemporary Art), tammy ko Robinson (director, City Studio), and Eddie Yuen.
Characteristic of the breadth and ambition of the courses SFAI’s faculty members design is the open graduate seminar Global Spectacle: Contemporary Art, Event Culture, and Urban Identities being led during the fall 2008 semester by Dean Enwezor. In addition to considering the work of such critics and theorists as Saskia Sassen, AbdouMaliq Simone, Rem Koolhaas, and Arjun Appadurai, this research seminar involves two weeks of fieldwork in South Korea and China: students will study and survey the changing landscape of global art practice and curatorial models at the 4th Busan Biennial, the 7th Shanghai Biennial, the 3rd Guangzhou Triennial, and the 7th Gwangju Biennial, of which Dean Enwezor is the artistic director.
Equally essential to the Master of Arts curriculum are the visiting artists and scholars who come to SFAI each semester. Both the Visiting Artists and Scholars Lecture Series and the Graduate Lecture Series—Spheres of Interest: Experiments in Thinking & Action—foster open forums through which graduate students in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies are given direct access to the major practitioners and theorists of contemporary global art and culture. Recent figures from both series include John C. Welchman, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Eduardo Cadava, the consortium Retort, Rem Koolhaas, Carlos Basualdo, Anne M. Wagner, Richard Meyer, Robert Atkins, Hilton Als, Jürgen Bock, Lia Gangitano, Françoise Vergès, Francesco Bonami, Florian Zeyfang, B. Ruby Rich, and Teddy Cruz and Pedro Reyes (whose joint exhibition, Conflict Resolution, opens in the Walter and McBean Galleries on the SFAI campus on October 16, 2008). Fall 2008 lecturers include, among a number of others, Juliane Rebentisch, Kyong Park, Gloria Sutton, Ute Meta Bauer, Martha Rosler, and Philippe Vergne (for details, please go to www.sfai.edu/vas and www.sfai.edu/spheres).
The fall 2009 priority deadline for SFAI’s MA programs in Exhibition and Museum Studies, History and Theory of Contemporary Art, and Urban Studies is March 1, 2009. Thereafter, applications will be accepted on a rolling basis.
The fall 2009 deadline for SFAI’s new dual MA/MFA degree in History and Theory of Contemporary Art and in Studio Practice (Design and Technology, Film, New Genres, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, or Sculpture/Ceramics) is January 15, 2009.
San Francisco Art Institute
Founded in 1871, SFAI is one of the oldest and most prestigious schools of higher education in contemporary art in the US. Focusing on the interdependence of thinking, making, and learning, SFAI’s academic and public programs are dedicated to excellence and diversity.
SFAI’s School of Studio Practice concentrates on developing the artist’s vision through studio experiments and is based on the belief that artists are an essential part of society. It offers a BFA, an MFA, and a Post-Baccalaureate certificate in Design and Technology, Film, New Genres, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, and Sculpture/Ceramics.
SFAI’s School of Interdisciplinary Studies is motivated by the premise that critical thinking and writing, informed by an in-depth understanding of theory and practice, are essential for engaging contemporary global society. It offers degree programs in Exhibition and Museum Studies (MA only), History and Theory of Contemporary Art (BA and MA), and Urban Studies (BA and MA).
For more information about the MA or other academic or public programs at SFAI, please go to www.sfai.edu, send an e-mail to [email protected], or call 415 749 4500.
For more information go to: http://www.sfai.edu
