Low-Residency MFA

The Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts (Low-Res MFA) program is a transdisciplinary course of study designed for 21st-century artists, writers, and educators looking for rigorous engagement, artistic community, and the flexibility of a self-directed schedule. 

Over the course of the seven-semester MFA program, a rotating core of SAIC faculty delivers on-campus and online instruction. Students attend three consecutive six-seek summer sessions in-person in Chicago structured around weekly seminars, colloquia, and studio visits with faculty and visiting artists. During the spring and fall semesters between summer residencies, students work remotely from their home studios, and participate in asynchronous online courses and one-on-one advising. The degree culminates in a final summer exhibition in which significant thesis projects and their written accompaniments are presented to the public.

As a program that brings together artists of all disciplines, the curriculum is scaffolded through the concept of “poetics,” from the Greek poiema, meaning “a made thing.” What unites students and faculty in the Low-Res MFA is the exploration of what it means to make things: conceptually, materially, and relationally. This year, the Low-Res MFA celebrates its tenth anniversary. Learn more about the program’s origins and future from this celebratory conversation between inaugural director Gregg Bordowitz and new director Aliza Shvarts.

The application deadline for summer 2025 is January 10. Visit saic.edu/lowres for more information and to apply.

Visiting Artists & Scholars Lecture Series
A hallmark of the Low-Res Program, the Visiting Artists & Scholars (VA&S) lecture series brings world-renowned artists and scholars from all disciplines to Chicago during the Low-Res MFA six-week summer residency period. Invited speakers deliver a lecture open to the entire SAIC and Chicago community and the general public. Speakers then hold studio visits and participate in a colloquium exclusively for Low-Res MFA students. Past lecturers include Emily Apter, Wafaa Bilal, Zach Blas, Elaine Byrne, Jennifer Doyle, Kimberly Drew, Aruna D’Souza, Andrea Fraser, Lyle Ashton Harris, Xandra Ibarra, Jamilla James, Steffani Jemison, Jennie C. Jones, Caroline Kent, Zoe Leonard, Glenn Ligon, Rodney McMillian, Fred Moten, Eileen Myles, Trevor Paglen, Sondra Perry, Yvonne Rainer, Michael Rakowitz, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Guadalupe Rosales, Meredith Talusan, Lynne Tillman, Carmelita Tropicana & Ela Troyano, Wu Tsang, Molly Zuckerman Hartung and many more.

Faculty
The Low-Res MFA provides students the opportunity to work with world-renowned practitioners committed to interdisciplinary arts research and practice. Drawn from different departments across SAIC, the core Low-Res MFA faculty represent a broad range of practices, experiences, and areas of expertise. Current faculty include: Giovanni Aloi, Irina Adina Bucan, Julietta Cheung, Tyler S. Coburn, D. Denenge Duyst-Akpem, Assaf Evron, Corrine Fitzpatrick, Kelly Kaczynski, Jennifer Dorothy Lee, Betelhem Makonnen, Matt Morris, Judd Morrissey, Nathanaël, John Neff, Dushko Petrovich, Daniel Ricardo Quiles, Andrea Ray, Christine Ann Shallenberg, Aliza Shvarts, Pamela Sneed, Asha Iman Veal, Hamza Walker, and Kelly Xi.

About the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
For more than 150 years, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) has been a leader in educating the world’s most influential artists, designers and scholars. Located in downtown Chicago with a fine arts graduate program consistently ranking among the top programs in the nation by US News and World Report, SAIC provides an interdisciplinary approach to art and design as well as world-class resources, including the Art Institute of Chicago museum, on-campus galleries and state-of-the-art facilities. SAIC’s undergraduate, graduate and post-baccalaureate students have the freedom to take risks and create the bold ideas that transform Chicago and the world—as seen through notable alumni and faculty such as Michelle Grabner, David Sedaris, Elizabeth Murray, Richard Hunt, Georgia O’Keeffe, Cynthia Rowley, Nick Cave, Jeff Koons, and LeRoy Neiman. Learn more at saic.edu.