Simonetta Moro named president

Following an international search process, Simonetta Moro has been named the new President of the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts (IDSVA). Dr. Moro succeeds IDSVA’s founder, George Smith (2006–24).

Since 2012, Simonetta Moro has served as IDSVA’s Director, Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Professor of Art, Philosophy, and Visual Studies. IDSVA fuses interactive online education with intensive global residencies in Rome, Spannocchia Castle (Tuscany), Venice, Berlin, Paris, Athens, Madrid, Marrakech, Mexico City, and NYC. IDSVA’s visiting and core faculty comprise world-leading philosophers, artists, and scholars.

Prior to coming to IDSVA, Dr. Moro taught at The New School (Eugene Lang College and Parsons School of Design), where she also chaired the Visual Art concentration and served as interim Chair of the Arts department.

Dr. Moro’s studio practice combines visual representation with theoretical production. Her work focuses on painting, drawing, and mapping practices. International and U.S. exhibitions include: White Box Gallery, New York; Galleria del Carbone, Ferrara, Italy; BRIC Art House, New York; Center for Architecture, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the American Academy in Rome, Italy, where she was a Fulbright Fellow; the Harris Museum, Preston, UK, and is featured in numerous publications, such as Katherine Harmon’s The Map as Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography (Princeton Architectural Press, 2009), and You Are Here NYC: Mapping the Soul of the City (Princeton Architectural Press, 2016). Moro’s extensive research in cartographic aesthetics informs her acclaimed book on Mapping Paradigms in Modern and Contemporary Art: Poetic Cartography (Routledge, 2021). Her recent publication, The Vattimo Dictionary (Edinburgh University Press, 2023), includes contributions from fifty-three leading international scholars writing on the lexicon of preeminent Italian philosopher Gianni Vattimo.

Moro is a native of Italy and graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna with a thesis in art history. She obtained a Master in European Fine Arts at Winchester School of Art in the UK and a PhD in Fine Arts from the University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK. In 2003, she attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and then settled in New York City, where she currently resides.

According to founding president George Smith, “Simonetta Moro is known throughout the art world and the world of ideas as a gifted artist-philosopher. Her vision of the future inspires poetic thinkers everywhere. Her extraordinary art practice and powerful and caring philosophical voice lead the way for the artist-philosophers of tomorrow.”

“I had the honor to work with President Smith for twelve years as the program director of IDSVA, and it is with great excitement and humbleness that I take on the role of the next President of the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts. I look forward to advancing the vision that established IDSVA as a new model and a new philosophy for higher education to meet the challenges of the 21st century as a student-centered institution without walls focused on the promise of artist-philosophers to create new systems of knowledge. It’s never been more important to pursue this educational project than now, and I am thankful to have the opportunity to carry it into the future.” —Dr. Simonetta Moro

Welcome, Dr. Moro!