The new MFA in Design Criticism at the School of Visual Arts is now accepting applications for Fall 2010.
This innovative two-year program trains students to research, analyze, and evaluate design and its social and environmental implications. Students will study with some of the best design writers and thinkers of our time, including: "Studio 360" host and author Kurt Andersen; MoMA's design curator Paola Antonelli; former editor of I.D. Magazine Ralph Caplan; Metropolis contributing editor Karrie Jacobs; and architecture critic Alexandra Lange.
Situated at the intersection of commerce and culture, design is a field of activity that touches the lives of everyone. Its role as an aesthetic, social and economic force is the subject of increasing attention: Mainstream news outlets, the business press and lifestyle magazines routinely cover design, and it is the focus of major exhibitions and even entire museums. Yet, while forums for design commentary have increased, there is a crucial need for more intellectually rigorous approaches to design criticism.
The School of Visual Arts MFA in Design Criticism - the first of its kind in the United States - seeks to cultivate design criticism as a discipline and contribute to public discourse with new writing and thinking that is imaginative, historically informed and socially accountable. Drawing on the broadest possible definition of design, the curriculum includes graphic, Web and product design, as well as fashion, urban planning and network systems. The course of study couples a theoretical framework with significant opportunities for practical experience. In providing the tools for researching, analyzing, evaluating and chronicling all aspects of design, students will prepare for careers as design critics, journalists, editors, curators, educators and design managers.
We welcome students from a range of academic backgrounds whose diverse perspectives and experiences enrich the debate. The program is equally well suited to designers, who want to hone their skills in writing and critical thinking, as it is to journalists and writers, who wish to enrich their understanding of design. Students will learn skills and techniques for the uncovering of data, the development of a story and for communicating with different audiences. The program places significant emphasis on the practical application of the many methodologies it teaches. Students will produce tangible documents of their critical practice, such as books, blogs, documentaries, course syllabi, conferences and exhibitions.
Design criticism is a rapidly growing academic discipline and field of practice. In addition to its increasing territory in the national press, new journals, awards programs and conferences have been initiated, dedicated to fostering the genre. It's an exciting time to be involved in design criticism; students of this program will be instrumental in shaping its formats, directing its priorities and negotiating the ways it is encountered by its many publics.
