IDSVA - Program Overview

The Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts provides doctoral studies in philosophy, aesthetics, and art theory to visual artists, and to architects, curators, and scholars who approach their work as a creative practice. IDSVA admits candidates who hold an MFA or a similar degree, such as an M.Arch. or an MA in curatorial studies, visual studies, or art history.

IDSVA is a low-residency program, blending distance learning with intensive residencies at Spannocchia Castle in Tuscany, the Venice Biennale, Paris, New York City, and Providence, Rhode Island.

The IDSVA academic year begins for first and second year students with a residency intensive at Spannocchia Castle in Tuscany (late-May to mid-June). The Spannocchia intensive includes weekend study in Siena, Florence, and Milan. At the end of the Spannocchia intensive students travel to the Venice Biennale, where they work with curators, artists, and directors and engage in what is described as critical intervention. In biennale off-years years, students go from Spannocchia to Paris to study and critique museum collections and art sites.

IDSVA students work directly with internationally renowned artists and thinkers. One self-designed independent study and one seminar course per semester comprise the three-year curriculum. Independent studies are faculty directed. Seminar courses commence in residency and continue online.

Online coursework and independent studies are pursued through fall and spring semester and include regular one-on-one faculty/student conferences, study group discussion and collaboration, and project research conducted through IDSVA's virtual library.

Core Faculty members serve as advisors. Each student works with the same advisor throughout their program of study. Students have a scheduled meeting with their advisor during residencies and on an as-need basis. The faculty meets in committee twice annually to review each student's progress and makes recommendations to the advisor where appropriate.

The curriculum is structured as a sequential learning experience, in which the student comes to terms first with a general understanding of the problems and questions posed by the curriculum, and then proceeds to a more specific and in depth critical grasp of problems and questions pertaining to the student's emergent field of study.

Sequentially designed residency seminars transition to online instruction via the FirstClass virtual campus. Online seminars are conducted through regular one-on-one faculty-student conferences and study group collaboration. A parallel, more personalized course of study is provided by self-designed independent studies. Building on residency advising, the student pursues a self-designed program of inquiry, supported by written assignments and faculty criticism and discussion.

Regular online assignment collaboration trains the student in the practice of working in cooperation with colleagues toward commonly shared goals. The intent is to foster life-long collegial relations. Professional etiquette has become an increasingly necessary aspect of academic training, and the Institution recognizes its responsibility to cultivate an ethos of scholarly courtesy.

Visits to the Venice Biennale and to major museums in Europe and the U.S. are intended to give the student first-hand experience and knowledge of "real" objects of art, so that the student's grasp of aesthetic discourse does not depend solely on reproductions and slide projections, and is immediate, concrete, and wide-ranging in scope. Museum visits and biennial exhibition visits include lectures by authorities on the subject at hand. Such visits familiarize the student with the evolving global art scene and provide opportunities for developing productive professional relationships with recognized leaders in the various fields of art theory, philosophy, criticism, and studio practice.

Qualifying exams come at the end of year three. By this time the student has completed the general course of study and must show his or her preparedness for the design and implementation of the dissertation project.

The completed dissertation is the culmination of a progressive curricular development intended to foster a high standard of scholarly inquiry and criticism. The dissertation stands as a valuable and unique contribution to the history of knowledge.

FIRST YEAR FIRST SEMESTER begins with a three week residency, from late May to mid June. Students arrive in Italy and spend the first seventeen days at Spannocchia, a centuries-old Tuscan castle and organic farm that offers ideal conditions for retreat-like academic study. A seminar course on the issues of twentieth-century art meets five days a week. In addition to lectures delivered by the course instructor, students give seminar presentations on readings from the syllabus. Written assignments are also required. Students meet in groups and individually with the instructor and with Visiting Faculty to discuss questions and problems posed in the seminar. During their stay, Visiting Faculty deliver a formal lecture and participate in the seminar to discuss questions arising from their lecture.

In Biennale years, students travel from Spannocchia to Venice for five days of study at the Venice Biennale. Students write critical analyses of Biennale installations and participate in panel presentations on various aspects of the Biennale. Scholars and artists participating in the Venice Biennale are invited to join discussions.

In the final week of the Spannocchia residency, students meet individually with faculty to design a paper topic for the fall Directed Reading. The paper topic stems from the residency experience and focuses on a problem or question arising from the afternoon seminar presentations.

After the residency intensive, instruction transitions to online/telephone/teleconference communications. The seminar course comprises a reading syllabus that includes weekly assignments from the instructor. Students are organized into study groups, which collaborate via FirstClass in the completion of weekly assignments. The course instructor meets with students by telephone on a regular and as needed basis. The seminar runs from mid-July to the end of August.

The fall seminar returns to questions raised in the summer residency. Students collaborate with each other through online study groups and faculty facilitated online class discussion. The course requires a twenty-five-page paper, written in light of the readings, class discussion, and faculty consultations. The fall seminar begins in early September and ends in mid-December.

FIRST YEAR SECOND SEMESTER begins in early January with a one-week residency intensive in New York City. The intensive commences two courses. The first is a seminar that meets in morning sessions and is composed of lectures presented by the instructor and seminar presentations by students. Seminar sessions also include studio visits to New York based artists and special lectures presented by internationally recognized scholars and curators.

During the New York Intensive, afternoons are dedicated to visits to major New York museums and galleries. These visits include formal and informal presentations from museum curators, gallery directors, and staff.

In the evenings CAA and MLA style panels are organized. Each panel is composed of four or five students, including a panel chair. The panel chair introduces each panelist, giving an overview of their paper topic. Each member of the panel delivers a twenty-minute paper. This paper is presented as a condensed version of a longer paper that has been written as part of the requirement of the fall seminar. After panel presentations, panelists take questions from the audience, which includes faculty, students, visiting scholars, and invited curators and critics.

At the end of the New York Intensive, the student proposes a self-designed course of independent study. This course generally develops from the intensive afternoon and evening sessions, which are geared toward topics of independent study. The requirements of the independent study typically include a reading list equivalent to roughly fifteen book-length texts and a writing assignment, usually in the form of a twenty-five-page paper. The independent study is completed under the direction of an expert in the given field of study.

As with the first semester, the seminar transitions to online instruction at the end of the residency. The class is organized into study groups, and writing assignments are completed in group collaboration via FirstClass. The course instructor holds one-on-one discussions with students by telephone on a regular and as needed basis. First Year Second Semester courses run from mid-January to late-April.

SECOND YEAR FIRST SEMESTER begins with a two-week residency starting in early June at Spannocchia Castle. Then, Second Year students travel to Milan, where they visit major art sites, galleries and collections, and meet with local experts in the various fields of the arts, including museum directors, curators, gallery directors, artists, and scholars. Da Vinci's "Last Supper" is of special interest. The final week of the intensive is spent in either Venice or Paris. The residency transitions to an online seminar and faculty directed independent study.

SECOND YEAR SECOND SEMESTER begins with the one-week New York Intensive in early January and transitions to an online seminar and faculty directed independent study.

The THIRD YEAR consists of a seminar and a directed reading course in each semester. The seminars are pursued with a view toward completing an outline and writing an introductory chapter of the dissertation; the directed reading courses focus on reading and research in areas related to the dissertation. First semester courses begin with a two-week Dissertation Orientation Residency in Providence, Rhode Island, on the campus of Brown University, from mid to late-July. At the end of the residency, courses transition to online communications for the remainder of the year. The second semester courses end in residency in Providence, R.I., at the Brown campus, where qualifying exams are administered.

At the end of year three, the candidate takes a written and an oral qualifying examination. The oral examination covers a reading list established by the student and advisor. The four main areas of examination are aesthetics, philosophy, theory, and art history. The written examination is given on a particular subject chosen by the student and advisor, usually focusing on an aspect of the developing dissertation topic. On passing both exams the student qualifies to present a formal dissertation proposal. With advisor approval the dissertation proposal is given official status and a dissertation committee is formed.

The candidate is given up to two years beyond the three-year curriculum to complete the dissertation. During this period, regular and scheduled communications are maintained between the candidate and his or her dissertation director and committee. Application for extension may be submitted to the dissertation committee. The degree is awarded upon successful completion of the dissertation.