Master of Public Art Studies Program (Curatorial Practices in the Public Sphere) at the USC Roski School of Fine Arts – Application deadline for 2010-2011: March 1st, 2010.

The Master of Public Art Studies Program (Curatorial Practices in the Public Sphere) at the University of Southern California Roski School of Fine Arts in Los Angeles is a unique platform to research art, curatorial practices, and modes of cultural organizing in relation to the material/social conditions of public space, and the contemporary public sphere. The graduate program’s interdisciplinary course of study encompasses seminars on curatorial practice & organizational methods, theory, critical writing, selected topics in art and architectural history, and directed research opportunities. Students gain a critical, historical and practical understanding of how artists, curators and organizers engage publics, communities and constituencies, in relation to the theoretical and pragmatic distinctions between public space and the public sphere.

There are two complementary elements of the two-year course of study in the MPAS Program: a curatorial practicum in which students collaborate on the development and organization of an exhibition project in public space; and the research and writing of a scholarly thesis. The program offers a unique context in which to investigate the work of curators, artists, organizers, writers, theorists, and architects in relation to city/urban-space and other territories, explore models of social collaboration & participation, and test out notions of situational engagement. The program supports students in their academic and professional development as curators, organizers, critics, theorists, and scholars. Fellowships and scholarships are available on a competitive basis.

Full-time Faculty:
Joshua Decter, Director of the Program and Assistant Professor
A critic and curator, Decter is a contributor to Artforum, Afterall, and other periodicals. He has organized exhibitions at PS1 in New York, The Center for Curatorial Studies/Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Apex Art in New York, The Kunsthalle Vienna, and the Santa Monica Museum of Art, among other institutions. Decter served on the graduate faculty at The Center for Curatorial Studies and Art in Contemporary Culture at Bard College from 2003 to 2007. Decter has contributed essays to numerous exhibition catalogues over the past 20 years, including most recently the 28th Bienal of São Paulo, Brazil in 2008, the 2008 California Biennial, ReGift at the Swiss Institute of Contemporary Art in New York in 2009, and Heartland at the Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago in 2009.

Rhea Anastas, Visiting Assistant Professor
Anastas is an art historian who taught at The Center for Curatorial Studies and Art in Contemporary Culture, Bard College, from 2001 to 2008. Anastas co-edited Dan Graham: Works 1965–2000 (2001) and Witness to Her Art: Art and Writings by Adrian Piper, Mona Hatoum, Cady Noland, Jenny Holzer, Kara Walker, Daniela Rossell and Eau de Cologne (2006), and was a co-founder of Orchard Gallery, New York.

Adjunct Faculty & Thesis Advisors:
Edgar Arceneaux: Artist; Director, Watts House Project; Anne Bray: Curator, Executive Director, LA Freewaves; Donna Conwell: Curator-Producer, Writer, Art Historian; Janet Owen Driggs: Writer, Artist, Curator; Lauri Firstenberg: Director/Curator, LAXART; Michael Ned Holte: critic and curator, Artforum contributor; Karen Moss: Curator, Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Programs, Orange County Museum of Art; Carol Stakenas: Executive Director, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE); Christina Ulke: Artist, Co-Editor/Co-Publisher, Journal of Aesthetics and Protest.

Guest speakers (selected), 2007-2009:
Doug Aitken, Ute Meta Bauer, Teddy Cruz, Steve Dietz, Mark Dion, Sam Durant, Andrea Fraser, Rudolf Frieling, Hou Hanru, Paul Ramirez Jonas, Grant Kester, Norman Klein, Michael Krichman, Miwon Kwon, Rick Lowe, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Allan McCollum, Anne Pasternak, Patricia Phillips, Marjetica Potrc, Gregory Sholette, Rochelle Steiner, Gloria Sutton, Nato Thompson, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Peter Zellner, Tirdad Zolghadr.

For more information on the Master of Public Art Studies Program (Curatorial Practices in the Public Sphere) at the USC Roski School of Fine Arts, please contact us at pasprog@usc.edu or visit our website at http://roski.usc.edu/pas

Roski School of Fine Arts
University of Southern California presents Master of Public Art Studies Program: Curatorial Practices in the Public Sphere
Director: Joshua Decter

Application deadline for the 2010-2011 academic year:
March 1, 2010

Master of Public Art
Studies Program

Curatorial Practices in the
Public Sphere

Roski School of Fine Arts
University of Southern California
Watt Hall 104 University Park Campus
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0292
Telephone: 213 743 8540
Fax: 213 743 4563
http://roski.usc.edu/pas