News
SHIRIN NESHAT: April 22, 2010 at the SVA Theater
We will conclude our Spring 2010 lecture series at the SVA Theater on 23rd Street in Chelsea on Thursday, April 22, 2010, with a screening of clips from Shirin Neshat's new feature length film Women Without Men. Shirin will answer questions about the film and discuss the genesis of the project.
ALFREDO JAAR: March 25, 2010 at the SVA Theater
On March 25, 2010, Alfredo Jaar screened his film The Ashes of Pasolini in our series, and then discussed, with David Levi Strauss, the importance of Pasolini as filmmaker, poet, and critic.
Alumni AIMEE WALLESTON published in Art in America
Art Criticism & Writing graduate Aimee Walleston will publish five pieces in Art in America online dealing with artists in the current Whitney Biennial. The first essay, on Lorraine O'Grady, has just appeared.
DAVID LEVI STRAUSS, Department Chair, releases From Head to Hand
On February 11, 2010, Oxford University Press released From Head to Hand: Art and the Manual, the latest book of essays by MFA Art Criticism & Writing Department Chair, David Levi Strauss. There was a book signing and launch party at the CUE Foundation in Chelsea on February 25, and others are planned for April 16th at Spoonbill & Sugartown Bookstore in Brooklyn, and April 24, at the Maria Walsh Sharpe Foundation studios in DUMBO, which will also feature the second edition of Strauss's first book, Between Dog & Wolf, with new prolegomenon by Hakim Bey.
Graduate Information Session and Open House Nov. 7 from 2:00 - 4:00
The Graduate Information Session and Open House for the MFA Art Criticism & Writing program will be held on November 7, 2009 at our facilities at 132 West 21st Street, 7th floor, between 6th and 7th Avenues, on the south side of the street. The Open House will begin at 2 pm and continue to 4 pm. Chair David Levi Strauss will introduce the program and other faculty members and current and past students will speak and be available to answer questions about the program. Register here.
Call for Applications
The MFA Art Criticism and Writing program is now accepting applications for Fall 2010 enrollment. If you are unable to attend the Open House and have questions about the application process, or want to arrange for an interview or visit, please contact (212) 592-2408 or artcrit@sva.edu. Download applications for the Fall 2010 semester here.
Fall 2009 Lecture Series (see past Lectures on iTunes FREE)
All events are free and open to the public at the SVA Theater 333 West 23rd Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues) in New York City
DAVE HICKEY The God Ennui, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 7PM A thin statistical slice of contemporary art remains visible beyond its moment. But why? Dave Hickey is the author of The Invisible Dragon: Four Essays on Beauty and Air Guitar:Essays on Art & Democracy, and the forthcoming Pagan America. He was the recipient of a 2001 MacArthur Fellowship, and is currently Schaeffer Professor of Modern Letters at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
SYLVERE LOTRINGER Paul Virilio: The Itinerary of Catastrophe, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 7PM Writer and cultural theorist Sylvere Lotringer will give a talk on philosopher Paul Virilio's proposition of speed and catastrophe as the generative principles of contemporary society, following a screening of The Itinerary of Catastrophe, a film-conversation with Virilio.
ELEANOR HEARTNEY Art Today: Tales of Plastic Surgery, Genetically Altered Rabbits, and Other Acts of Art, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 7PM Is there even a vague family resemblance between things currently accepted as art? How do we think about art in an era when all the old categories, definitions, and organizational schema no longer seem to work? Critic Eleanor Heartney examines the critical framework for art in an era of extreme pluralism.
PHONG BUI AND FRIENDS On the Teaching of Meyer Schapirio, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 7PM Artist and curator Phong Bui will moderate a panel of former students of the great historian Meyer Schapiro, including David Craven, Caroll Janis, and Joseph Masheck, following the screening of a short film of Schapiro teaching. Bui is editor and publisher of The Brooklyn Rail.
Wystan Curnow, That Will Do for Now: Vito Acconci and the Conceptualist Pre-Text
On Tuesday, April 21st at 6:30pm, independent critic, curator and educator Wystan Curnow discussed the Brooklyn-based architect, landscape architect and installation artist Vito Acconci, and how his work influenced conceptual art. Curnow, who lives and works in New Zealand, co-edits the journal Reading Room and is the director of JAR, a project space in Kingsland, Auckland. This talk was co-sponsored by the MFA Art Criticism and Writing Department and the BFA Visual and Cultural Studies Department. Location: 133/141 West 21st Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues), Room 101C.
Art Criticism student interviews Dave Hickey for The New York Times blog.
Second-year student Aimee Walleston recently interviewed author and art critic Dave Hickey for TheNew York Times "This Moment" blog. You can read it here. 4/15/09
The Brothers Quay, The Pharmacist's Prescription for Lip-reading Puppets
On April 2nd, the MFA Art Criticism Department as well as the BFA Fine Arts and Art History Departments presented a discussion with the Brothers Quay. The film and theater work of these stop-motion animators include The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes and the upcoming Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass. The talk was moderated by Art Criticism faculty member Thyrza Goodeve. 4/15/09
Avital Ronell, Nietzsche Loves You
On April 7th, our fourth and last Spring 2009 Art in the First Person lecture, featuring writer and scholar Avital Ronell, took place. Ronell spoke on the relations between art and morality, presenting the dossiers of Friedrich Nietzsche, the most ferocious defender of art as a vital necessity. Ronell is a professor at NYU and the European Graduate School in Switzerland, and frequently contributes to Artforum and ArtUS. For more information, or to be included on the MFA Art Criticism events mailing list, please contact (212) 592-2408 or artcrit@sva.edu. 04/15/09
Michael Taussig, I Swear I Saw That
Thanks to all who attended our third Spring 2009 Art in the First Person lecture, by anthropologist and writer Michael Taussig. Taussig is a professor of anthropology at Columbia University and his many books include Mimesis and Alterity, and What Color is the Sacred? 03/06/09
John Yau, Anonymous and Particular
Thanks to all who attended our second Spring 2009 Art in the First Person lecture, by poet and critic John Yau on Thursday, February 12. John Yau teaches at Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts and is arts editor at the Brooklyn Rail. His talk focused on common motifs found in the work of Jasper Johns, Catherine Murphy and Thomas Nozkowski. His latest book, A Thing Among Things: The Art of Jasper Johns is now widely available at bookstores. 02/12/09
Susan Bee at A.I.R. Gallery
Faculty member Susan Bee's upcoming solo show, "Eye of the Storm: New Paintings" will open at the A.I.R. Gallery at 111 Front Street #228, in Brooklyn, NY, from February 4th to March 1st. In conjunction with the show, there will be an opening reception on Thursday the 5th, from 6-8pm, and a tribute to Emma Bee Bernstein and a book release for the Belladonna Elders Series #4 on March 1st, from 3-5pm. For directions or more information, call (212) 255-6651. 01/02/09
Susan Buck-Morss, Visual Empire
Thanks to all who attended Susan Buck-Morss' recent lecture, the first in our Spring 2009 lecture series in the brand new SVA Visual Arts Theater, and especially to those who participated in the lively Q&A session afterwards. Susan Buck-Morss is a professor at Cornell University and her latest book, Hegel, Haiti and Universal History (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008), is now available.
W.J.T. Mitchell on The Future of the Image
Our last fall lecture in the Art in the First Person series featured W.J.T. Mitchell, who presented a talk on the work of contemporary French philosopher Jacques Rancière, author of The Future of the Image (Verso, 2007), on Thursday, December 11th, at 7pm. 12/12/08
Carol Becker Lecture
As part of the fall Art in the First Person series, Carol Becker gave a talk in the SVA amphitheater on November 13th on "the particular values that are mostly implicit in schools of art and design--the emphasis on process, the belief in failure, the concepts of sustainability, and the commitment to global thinking." Becker is Dean of the School of Arts at Columbia University and the author of several books, including the forthcoming collection of essays Thinking in Place: Art, Action, and Cultural Production. You can hear Professor Becker's talk, as well as other Art Criticism and Writing lectures, on SVA's iTunes U. 11/14/08
Leo Steinberg Seminar
Art historian Leo Steinberg held a special three-hour session with Art Crit students on October 15th, speaking and answering questions about his essays on "Pontormo's Capponi Chapel" and "Steen's Female Gaze and Other Ironies." 10/15/08
Landres & Licata Picked for Young Art Critics Mentoring Program
Sophie Landres and Christine Licata, who graduated in May 2008 from the Art Criticism & Writing program, were just selected for the Young Art Critics Mentoring Program, a partnership between AICA USA (the U.S. section of the International Association of Art Critics) and CUE Art Foundation, which pairs emerging writers with AICA mentors to produce original essays for catalogues accompanying exhibitions at the CUE space in the heart of Chelsea at 511 West 25th Street. Sophie Landres' essay on Yayoi Asoma's paintings (curated by Stephen Westfall) and Christine Licata's essay on Marina Adams' paintings (curated by Norma Cole) appeared in separate catalogues that also included texts by the curators of the exhibitions, which will be on view from October 16 to November 29, 2008. Eleanor Heartney acted as mentor for Christine, and Lilly Wei for Sophie. 10/14/08
Bill Berkson Lecture Inaugurates Lecture Series
Poet and critic Bill Berkson inaugurated the fall lecture series on October 9th, 2008 at the Amphitheater on 23rd Street with "Some Divine Conversation: Poetry, Art and the Death of the Addressee." (Read conversation between Berkson and David Levi Strauss in the Brooklyn Rail). Upcoming in the Art in the First Person Lecture series, Carol Becker will speak on November 13th about "Values Implicit in Schools of Art and Design," and W.J.T. Mitchell will appear December 11th, addressing Jacques Rancière's book The Future of the Image. 10/09/08
Aimee Walleston Writes for New York Times Blog
Current second-year Art Crit student Aimee Walleston contributed short reviews of exhibitions of Shannon Plumb's video projects, Joseph Beuys's posters, and of Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller to the Times blog The Moment. 10/02/08
Spring 2009 Lecture Series
The spring 2009 lecture series will move to the newly renovated School of Visual Arts Theater at 333 West 23rd Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues, where Susan Buck-Morss will appear January 29th, John Yau on February 12th, Michael Taussig on March 5th, and Avital Ronell on April 7th. 10/01/08Graduation
The program in Art Criticism and Writing graduated its second group of MFAs on May 19, 2008 on the stage at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, before a crowd of 4000. New York Times columnist Frank Rich delivered the commencement speech, pointing out that these graduates have an "opportunity to reinvent contemporary culture for an ever more diverse and international audience, and to use that culture not just for delight and provocation, but for the greater good." 5/19/08
Seminars With Artists
As part of the Whitney Museum's Seminars with Artists series connected with the Whitney Biennial, David Levi Strauss and Daniel J. Martinez had a public conversation at the museum on May 7, 2008, on "Imagining a Future of Art." 5/7/08
Phong Bui, Ann Lauterbach, and Nancy Princenthal
Three guests will visit our Thesis Seminar this Spring. Phong Bui, artist, curator, and publisher of The Brooklyn Rail, came in on February 6, to talk about his mentor, the great art historian Meyer Schapiro, and the philosophy behind the Rail. Poet and essayist Ann Lauterbach will join us on February 27 to speak about "the whole fragment," and the importance of knowing about more than one discipline. And critic and Senior Editor of Art in America Nancy Princenthal will be here on March 26. 2/19/08
Martin Puryear Panel at MoMA (Titus Theater 2, 11 West 53rd St.)
On Tuesday, January 8, David Levi Strauss spoke about the work of sculptor Martin Puryear at the Museum of Modern Art, and participated in a panel discussing Puryear's retrospective with artists Terry Winters and Josiah McElheny and art historian Judith Russi Kirshner. The panel was convened and moderated by John Elderfield, Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the museum, and organizer of the Puryear exhibition. 1/15/08
Art Criticism and Writing Hosts Performa 07's Writing Live
The Art Criticism & Writing program has been pleased to host Writing Live:Writers Hub, a critical writing initiative running throughout Performa 07, the visual arts performance biennial in New York City from October 27th to November 20th, 2007. The first day-long writing workshop was held at our facilities on West 21st Street (two blocks away from the Performa offices), on Tuesday, October 30th from 10am to 4pm, and will conclude with a "Peer Critique" on Tuesday, November 20th, from 12 to 4pm. The resulting writing will be posted on the Performa 07 Live blog and linked to our site
here. 11/19/07
Michael Brenson Sits In on Bases of Criticism I Seminar
Writer and critic Michael Brenson gave the AICA (Association Internationale de Critiques d'Art) Distinguished Critic Lecture at the New School on Monday, November 12, 2007, and then came in to our seminar to discuss isses brought up in his lecture, titled "The View from Here." Students also read four of Michael's essays from his book Acts of Engagement: Writings on Art, Criticism, and Institutions, 1993-2002 (New York and Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004), and asked questions arising from their reading. 11/19/07
Graduate Information Session and Open House
The Graduate Information Session and Open House for the Art Criticism and Writing program was held on Saturday, November 10th, 2007 at our facilities at 132 West 21st Street, 7th floor. In addition to prospective students, current and past students in the MFA program were on hand to speak about their experiences and answer questions, and Chair David Levi Strauss, faculty member Thyrza Nichols Goodeve and Assistant to the Chair Melissa Ragsly were also there to answer questions. Brooklyn Rail publisher Phong Bui and Artist Daniel J. Martinez came to show their support. 11/12/07