Aliza Shvarts

Despite rumors to the contrary, New York City remains the center of the contemporary art world, the place where a staggering quantity of art is produced, exhibited, purchased, interpreted, and evaluated. One way to make sense of the city¿s complexity and energy is to trace the dynamic pathways through which art travels: the connections between artists, dealers, institutions, and critical voices. During two intensely busy weeks in January, this study trip will investigate the full range of contemporary art production in the city, visiting artists' studios, non-profit spaces and publications, residencies, commercial galleries, and major museums. Team-taught by artist / theorist Aliza Shvarts and critic / art historian Daniel Quiles, both of whom have lived and worked in New York, the class will benefit from numerous ¿behind-the-scenes¿ opportunities with artists, critics, curators, and dealers.

What are the most urgent issues in contemporary art now? This online course addresses the central themes and ideas shaping the production and distribution of art. Students will develop and manage their own blogs and participate in continuing online discussions. The final requirement will be a finished paper.

This course will explore performance and theories of performativity, with a focus on histories of 20th and 21st century performance art, speech acts, and theories of gender performativity and embodiment. Taking up the core proposition of the ¿performative turn¿ in art and philosophy, we will examine not only what artworks, texts, and embodied practices mean, but what they do. Coursework will combine new and canonical works in queer theory, feminism, Black studies, Indigenous studies, and disability studies, and performance studies, as well as assignments that create opportunities to put theory into practice.

Students in their final residency enroll in Thesis Studio: Public Presentation, a two-part course that guides students through their thesis presentation that will be given in the Sullivan Galleries during the MFA Thesis Exhibition. The first portion functions as a seminar, during which students learn about historical modes and forms of the Artist?s Talk and prepare for their own presentations. The second portion of the course consists of the thesis presentations themselves, a culminating statement in the form of a public talk delivered to the entire graduating cohort along with visiting artists and SAIC faculty.

The Graduate Projects course allows students to focus in private sessions on the development of their work and research from their home studio or mobile platforms. The continued development of ideas and approaches initiated during the summer Graduate Studio Seminar will be supported through in-person and online conversation with SAIC Program Mentors. These liaisons are intended to support the off-campus development of work while also providing personal connections to SAIC's vast global network of distinguished alumni. Open to Low Residency MFA students only.

The Graduate Projects course allows students to focus in private sessions on the development of their work and research from their home studio or mobile platforms. The continued development of ideas and approaches initiated during the summer Graduate Studio Seminar will be supported through in-person and online conversation with SAIC Program Mentors. These liaisons are intended to support the off-campus development of work while also providing personal connections to SAIC's vast global network of distinguished alumni. Open to Low Residency MFA students only.