Fine Arts: Contemporary Practices

This intensive studio residency, hosted by SVA's MFA Fine Arts Department, has been designed for artists working in both medium-specific and cross-platform modes of production that aim for the intersection of art and ideas. Taught by distinguished members of the MFA Fine Arts faculty, the residency fosters a culture of rigorous practice and contemporary thought.

Each artist will have use of a private studio located in New York City's Chelsea gallery district. Daily studio visits from renowned artists, curators and theorists support an ongoing discourse among an international community of fellow artists. In addition to concentrated work in the studio, artists will attend lectures, gallery walks, museum visits and workshops that support a professional art practice. Through focused creative engagement with the history and criticism of contemporary art, participants will be encouraged by a faculty of leading artists and scholars to take their work to the next level, aesthetically and conceptually. Faculty and guest lecturers will represent a variety of contemporary perspectives.

While the focus of the residency is on content and critical discourse, work in a variety of media is supported and encouraged, including drawing, painting, photography, performance, installation, digital and interactive media, electronics, sound, and all modes of experimental practice. Artists committed to a single form or medium can expect to delve deeper into the material concerns of their practice. Residents are also invited to consider the sociopolitical potentiality of art practices situated outside the paradigm of individual authorship, via forays into social practice and public forms. Ultimately, the goal of the program is to create an inclusive space for artistic research, activated by the spirit of inquiry.

Participants will have access to SVA's Visible Futures Lab and the opportunity to work with state-of-the-art tools for both digital and traditional fabrication. Artists have access to the studios daily from 8:00 am to 11:00 pm. Overnight stays are allowed with entry to the building prior to 11:00 pm. The program culminates in an open studio exhibition.

Faculty and guest lecturers have included: Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow, Media Farzin, Mark Thomas Gibson, Baseera Khan, Paul Laster, Miguel Luciano, Angel Nevarez, William Powhida, Juan Puntes, Jacob Rhodes, David Ross, Jerry Saltz and Caroline Woolard.