Ph.D. in Art History, Theory, & Criticism
The Department of Visual Arts announces a new graduate program for the study
of art and media leading to a Ph.D. degree in the History, Theory, and Criticism of Art.
For many years, the Department of Visual Arts has been one of the nation's leading centers of art practice and graduate education in studio, media,
and — most recently — digital arts. Enhancing and complementing our highly ranked M.F.A. program, the Ph.D. in Art History, Theory,
and Criticism is a realization of the department's foundational premise: that the production of art and critical, theoretical, and historical
reflection upon it necessarily participate in a single discursive community.
Offering a distinct alternative to existing Ph.D. programs in art history, the program centers on a unique curriculum that places art objects and
practices at the center of inquiry, even as it encourages examination of the larger historical, cultural, social, intellectual, and theoretical
frameworks within which the category "art" has been contextualized in the most recent developments in the discipline. The program encompasses the study
of both past and present art across a broad range that includes fine arts and media (film, video, photography, new media).
The program also features a new concentration in "Art Practice" designed for artists engaged in advanced research who wish to pursue
their work in an environment geared to doctoral study, and to produce studio work alongside a written dissertation. The addition of a
concentration in art practice was a natural outgrowth of the reciprocal relationship between history, theory and practice in the
Visual Arts department. Rather than segregating art practice and history UCSD’s Visual Arts department brings practitioners, theorists
and historians together to encourage innovative work at the boundaries of disciplines, discourses, and methodologies. Art
practice students fulfill the same requirements as students working in other Ph.D. concentrations, including language exams, qualifying
exams and the submission of a dissertation prospectus. Their dissertations, however, combine a shorter written component with a
completed art project (film or video, exhibition, public work, etc.). The program is particularly well-suited for established artists with
a research-based practice who are seeking the opportunity to reflect on that practice, and to develop new work, in conjunction with a
community of ambitious artists, historians and theorists.
PROGRAM
The innovative character of this new program is most evident in its curricular structure which is broadly organized into three groups of seminars
(see Ph.D. Course Descriptions). The importance of critical theory to the study of art and media today is reflected in the number and range of seminars
in the Theories/New Visions group, while the study of art in its concrete historical, social, and cultural contexts, across different cultures
and media, is emphasized in time, place, and media specific seminars in the group Times/Terrains.
The program builds most distinctively on recent developments in the field in the group of seminars in the Constructs/Categories group. These
seminars address core questions about art objects and practices that we believe every doctoral student in art and media history, whatever his or her
area of specialization, should engage. How is the category "art" itself produced, now and in the past, in the urbanized west and in other cultures, and
in the context of ever-changing technologies? How are artistic identities constructed across distinct epochs and societies, and with reference to
categories such as gender and ethnicity? What are the circumstances and contexts (social, intellectual, institutional, and the like) within which art
is both produced and disseminated? What are the alternative modes of engaging art objects and practices and what are the histories and theoretical
assumptions of the specialized discourses used to describe and analyze these objects and practices?
Seminars in the Constructs/Categories group foreground the self-critical turn in recent art and media history by making reflection upon central
concepts, constructs, categories, and languages of art historical inquiry a key programmatic concern. They are also distinctive in that they are
designed to cut across traditional categories of history and contemporaneity, art and media, history and theory, and to promote cross-cultural
inquiry.
Carrying forward the interdisciplinary emphasis of seminars in the Constructs/Categories group, the program also encourages students to take
seminars in other departments such as Literature, History, Communication, and Anthropology.
RESOURCES
The San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Museum of Photographic Arts, the Timken Museum, and other institutions in
San Diego offer collections and events that provide many opportunities for graduate research and pre-professional curatorial experience. In nearby Los
Angeles, museums including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), the J. Paul Getty Museum,
the Getty Center for the Humanities, the Norton Simon Collection, and others.
On campus, the University Art Gallery displays a continually changing series of exhibitions. The Visual Arts Gallery provides exhibition space in
the Visual Arts Facility for M.F.A. student shows. UCSD is also home to the internationally known Stuart Collection, an organization dedicated to
funding experimental and challenging public art projects on campus. The fifteen site-specific projects commissioned to date include works by important
contemporary artists including Robert Irwin, Jenny Holzer, Bruce Nauman and Kiki Smith.
The campus-wide Slide Collection is housed in the Geisel Library with holdings in excess of 308,000 slides. As a supplement to the collections of
the UCSD Libraries, students have available the extensive resources of the University of California systemwide library system.
PROGRAM OF STUDY
During the first year of study, each student must declare an area of major concentration in consultation with his or her faculty adviser. Initially,
the major concentration may be selected from the following: Ancient Art; Art Practice; Medieval Art; Renaissance Art; Early Modern Art; Modern Art
(19th and 20th centuries); Contemporary Art; Media Studies; Meso-American Art. A student may also choose, in consultation with his or her adviser and
the director of the graduate program, a field of emphasis that cuts across the areas within the Department (e.g., Art or Media Theory and Criticism)
or, with appropriate approvals, one that involves another department (e.g., Early Modern Art History and History). Once the field of emphasis is
established, it will be the responsibility of the student and his or her adviser to devise a program of courses, independent study and outside reading,
over and above the required courses, that will ensure that the student attains command of the major field of emphasis.
A normal full-time program consists of 12 units per quarter. Prior to the qualifying examination, students will be expected to complete a total of
21 four-unit courses (normally accomplished in seven to nine quarters). This 21-course requirement will normally be satisfied by a combination of
seminars, independent study, and apprentice teaching. No more than three may be apprentice teaching; no more than two may be reading courses; and no
more than two may be graduate seminars in art practice. By reading course, we mean an upper-division undergraduate course which a student takes with
additional reading and writing requirements.
All students are required to take the following seminars in their first year
of study: Introduction to Graduate Studies in Visual Art (offered in the Fall
only) and Re-Thinking Art History. Students must also take, at some point, one
seminar from the Theory/Practice group (VIS 210 - VIS 219). One four-unit
apprentice teaching course is also required. In order to ensure that students
attain a reasonable measure of historical and cultural breadth, all students
are required to take one seminar from at least four of the following areas:
- Ancient or Medieval Art;
- Renaissance or Early Modern Art;
- Modern or Contemporary Art;
- Media Studies;
- Non-Western Art.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT
Students will be required to demonstrate reading knowledge of at least two of the foreign languages required for advanced study in art history,
theory, and criticism. Competence in at least one should be indicated at the time of application to the program. In some cases, more than two foreign
languages may be required. The student and his or her adviser will jointly determine the examination languages.
Foreign language requirements will normally be satisfied by passing examinations requiring sight translation of texts in art history, theory, and
criticism. No student who has not passed one such examination will be admitted to second-year study, and no student who has not passed two will be
admitted to third-year study.
EXAMINATIONS
No later than the first quarter of the third year, the student, in consultation with his or her adviser, will form a qualifying examination
committee which will consist of at least three members drawn from the Visual Arts Department faculty and one drawn from another department. This
committee will conduct the qualifying examination required by university policy and oversee completion of the dissertation. The qualifying examination
will consist of a three-hour written examination, followed within the next two days by a two-hour oral examination, in the student's major field. Both
examinations will be held no later than the end of the third year. Upon successful completion of these examinations, the student will be advanced to
candidacy. Normally, advancement to candidacy will take place in two and one-half to three years.
A student who fails either the written or the oral examination may petition the committee and graduate program director to repeat the examination.
Any student who fails a second time will not be advanced to candidacy. In some cases, the committee and graduate program director may judge such a
student eligible to receive a terminal M.A. (see below).
DISSERTATION
Following successful completion of the qualifying examinations, the student will complete a doctoral dissertation in his or her field of emphasis.
Upon selection of the dissertation topic, a colloquium will be held for which the student will submit a written prospectus that presents the topic and
program of research for discussion by the graduate group and for approval by his or her committee. After the committee has reviewed the finished
dissertation, the student will defend his or her thesis orally. In exceptional cases, the thesis defense may be waived by unanimous agreement of the
committee members and the director of the graduate program.
M.A. DEGREE
We do not award a terminal M.A. degree, nor do we accept students into our program for M.A. study.
All students MUST apply for and be admitted to the Ph.D. program. An M.A. degree may be awarded to continuing Ph.D. students upon successful
completion of the following:
- at least 12 four-unit courses, including Introduction to Graduate Studies
in Visual Art, Re-Thinking Art History, and one seminar from the Theory/Practice
group (VIS 210-219);
- a three-hour written examination in a designated field of emphasis (see Examinations
above);
- one language examination and
- an M.A. thesis.
Students who demonstrate minimal competence on the qualifying examination, but not sufficient competence to continue in the program, may be awarded
a terminal M.A. upon completion of the four requirements set forth in the paragraph above.
NORMATIVE TIME FROM MARTICULATION TO DEGREE
The student will normally advance to candidacy in two and one-half to three years, and must be advanced to candidacy by the end of four years. He or
she will normally complete the research for and writing of the dissertation by the end of his or her sixth year of study. Total university support may
not exceed seven years, and total registered time at UCSD may not exceed eight years.
ADMISSIONS AND FINANCIAL AID
All students MUST apply for and be admitted to the Ph.D. program. The policy of UCSD is to admit in Fall Quarter only. Applications for
admissions must be postmarked January 2, and selections will be made by April 1. Click here for more
information on application.
Most applicants are concerned about possible funding. Generous funding for Ph.D. students is available in the form of tuition and fee scholarships,
Teaching Assistantships, Readerships, and in some cases, stipends. Ph.D. students are also eligible to compete for the Timken Fellowship which provides
support in the form of a stipend for one student annually who will do research on works of art in San Diego's Timken Museum.
UCSD is committed to increasing the enrollment of graduate students from those groups such as minorities, women, older students, physically
challenged students, and other students who have been historically underrepresented in the university as a result of economic, societal, or educational
inequities. Several forms of financial assistance are available to applicants who demonstrate the academic potential to complete requirements for the
Ph.D. degree. The Office of Graduate Studies and the Visual Arts Department administer fellowships, scholarships, traineeships, nonresident tuition
scholarships, teaching or language assistantships, and research assistantships - all of which are available on a competitive basis.
If this program interests you and you want to apply, please use the online
UCSD Graduate Studies Application. All financial aid information will be
included. If you have any questions about the program, contact Colette McKinney,
Ph.D. Program Coordinator, Visual Arts Department (0327), University of California,
San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0327, telephone (858) 822-3882,
fax (858) 534-8651, or email vis-phd@ucsd.edu.
We look forward to hearing from you!
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