apotheosis
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Posts posted by apotheosis
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Claire Fox's Making Art Panamerican: Cultural Policy and the Cold War (UMinn Press, 2013)
It is admittedly very new, so not a canonical must read, but on the must read list of any progressive 20th c. Americanist.
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@brazilianbuddy, I think that while these questions may allay your curiosity in giving an image of what the "successful applicant" looks like or went through, there is really little to be gleaned from these facts. The people I met at interviews and open houses come from such different backgrounds, ages, and places of origin that I believe we were all accepted for different reasons and judged under different expectations. To be trite, I think grad school apps are pretty much a crap shoot and there's no recipe for success.
I am applying as a senior from a small top 10 LAC as a non-art history major (only took three art history courses). I have done two curatorial internships, speak three languages, and published a few short stories for literary journals. I want to study contemporary art with approaches culled from political science and cultural studies. I probably belong more in an interdisciplinary humanities program given my background and interests, but I know my goal is to work in a museum, and an art history PhD is still the best path to go. Being aware that I am at a disadvantage in terms of preparation, I made sure to show in my writing sample that I could enter into a dialogue with theories in art historiography and with art historians, as well as do visual analysis and close readings of objects, as a good art history major should know. The topic or style of my writing sample is not at all reflective of what I plan on doing when I actually get in, but I wrote for an audience, and that audience is an admissions committee that is composed, inevitably, of a mix of faculty who have varying degrees of openness to non-traditional approaches to art history. My SOP, on the other hand, was directed to the faculty member I was interested in working with at each school, and there I let my quirky, interdisciplinary side show, knowing that I need to get that one professor to advocate for me in the admissions committee. So what can I say... be strategic? But that strategy is ultimately about making up for your weaknesses and letting yourself shine in the appropriate spaces, and only you can decide what that all means.
In the end, even those of us who got in can never be really sure why! The reason I got in might just be that they're graduating all of their contemporary art grad students this year and want several this year; it might be that the faculty member I applied to work with has been on a dry spell and hasn't accepted any new students for too long; it might be that my rec writer is a good friend with one of the professors and so his letter came to hold much more weight. All this is to say don't be too hard on yourself! Talent and preparation play a role, but so does chance, and I'm sure your turn will come around soon enough!
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*raises hand*
I haven't stopped dancing crazily in joy since the call
- Flaneuse, Hegel's Bagels and Swagato
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I second fullofpink in saying that if you do not have a lot of coursework in traditional art history, be prepared to show your competency in other ways, or make sure that your recommenders can testify to your art historical knowledge. I did not major or minor in art history in college, but did a large independent research project on aesthetics and the Frankfurt School, which inevitably had to do with lots of modern art history which I had to learn by myself, and I made sure to highlight that in my SOP. I've received pretty good feedback in the interviews I've conducted so far, and it seems that most faculty do not have major problems with my lack of art historical expertise, as long as I am willing to acquire it independently during graduate school alongside other coursework.
You might also be interested in more interdisciplinary programs (UC Berkeley's Rhetoric, Stanford's MTL, Duke's Literature, etc.) where you will be able to pursue art theory, aesthetics, and continental philosophy without having to worry about fulfilling art history area / period requirements as you would have in traditional programs.
Off the top of my head, here are some art history professors w/ strong interest in continental philosophy you might want to check out: Sebastian Zeidler (Yale), Branden Joseph (Columbia), Matthew Biro (Michigan).
- ProspectStu8735 and surlefil
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hi fragonard32,
you said that you did the guggenheim internship last year...was it the one in venice? also just wondering how they contacted you with your acceptance?
i know this is so silly but im just too nervous/ excited about it so ive been driving myself crazy checking my emails a million times a day!
thanks
I'd echo fragonard32 too that the Guggenheim is horrible with notifications! Last year I applied for a Guggenheim NYC internship and they got back to me in early May--wayyyy after the notification date.
Good luck and hang tight. Just remember, no news is good news!
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Congratulations to the Columbia admits! As I now nervously chew on my fingernails (while waiting for pizza delivery for stress eating), may I ask how you were contacted and if your status on the application webpage has been updated?
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So many casualties from the Princeton massacre today. Goodness gracious me, did they just reject everyone this year?
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Echoing uromastyx's sentiments, it is hard to offer a yes or no answer for equivalency, since there are so many kinds masters programs in the UK. The terminology (MA, MLitt, MPhil, MSt) actually doesn't say much, but the important factors to consider are the length to degree and whether it is research-based or not. Is the MLitt you are considering a Scottish way of saying research-only MPhil, or is it more similar to a taught MA? Many PhD programs give credit for MA coursework, so something to consider will be whether if what you do during your MLitt will reduce time to PhD in the US or not. But in the end, getting the MLitt will be good proof that you can carry out independent research and write something of considerable length, which of course, you can submit as a writing sample. Hope this helps!
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Join the circus most definitely. I can juggle urinals, you know.
But seriously, I'm looking to do curatorial work in contemporary art. It's a tough field, and it's gonna be as much about networking as it is about the academics, but I like working with people (and can't stand archival research), so that's that
- HannahPie and MyWorkIsDone
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German
annieca, kotov, Kelkel, Ganymede18, grlu0701, hbeels (veeeeeery rusty), Orient, ticklemepink, viggosloof28, Tiglath-Pileser III
Spanish
annieca, crazedandinfused, Ganymede18, grlu0701 (kind of), CageFree, StrangeLight, pudewen (very rusty and basically useless to my work), ticklemepink (reading), fortiesgirl, viggosloof28, Andean Pat, apotheosis
French
theregalrenegade, Ganymede18, CageFree (reading, can speak a bit), StrangeLight, Safferz (Franglais), hbeels, sandyvanb, fortiesgirl, Tiglath-Pileser III, Andean Pat, apotheosis
Hebrew
uhohlemonster, crazedandinfused (ktzat), ticklemepink, Tiglath-Pileser III, Qaus-gabri
Italian
fortiesgirl (reading, can speak a bit), Andean Pat (I understand it, swering)
Latin
Kelkel, Ganymede18, husky4ever
Greek
Ganymede18 (New Testament), , Tiglath-Pileser III, Qaus-gabri (Hellenistic)
Russian
ticklemepink (really, really basic), ReallyNiceGuy
Polish
runaway
Romanian
kotov
Japanese
kyjin, pudewen (sort of, it's in process), Tiglath-Pileser III
Portuguese
CageFree (reading), StrangeLight (reading, swearing), fortiesgirl (reading, some comprehension), Andean Pat (reading)
Hungarian
StrangeLight (swearing only)
Somali
Safferz
Arabic
Safferz (reading), Orient (MSA)
Chinese
pudewen (modern and classical), apotheosis
Turkish
orient (modern an ottoman)
Persian
Orient (reading)
Yiddish
ticklemepinkNorwegian
viggosloof28 (can also read Swedish and Danish)
Akkadian
Tiglath-Pileser III, Qaus-gabriEgyptian
Tiglath-Pileser III
CopticQaus-gabri (Sahidic)Aramaic
Qaus-gabri
Ugaritic
Qaus-gabri
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Chicago and Duke have strong interdisciplinary focuses in art history. I know of Darby English and WJT Mitchell at Chicago and Mark Antliff at duke in particular. I'd not rule out philosophy PhDs just yet!! You can still take coursework in art history! Good luck!
I definitely second this. For Chicago you might be interested in applying to their Committee for Social Thought program; it's an interdisciplinary PhD so you can do coursework across several departments.
If you are looking at Duke, you might also be interested in Mark Hansen as well--he is quite the bomb in media philosophy.
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I don't know if you're looking for a more traditional analytical phil program to do "philosophy of art," or something more continental and expansive? If it is the latter, you might want to check out the PhD program in Philosophy at the New School in NYC. They're very strong in critical theory (in the proper sense of the word, i.e. Frankfurt school), aesthetics and ideology.
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It seems that quite a few people have received calls from their POIs at Princeton in the past few weeks. This is rather peculiar given that applicants in past years were not contacted right until results were released. I'm very curious whether if these calls were interviews? Did you get any news about how the selection process ahead will be like? And what is with the 500+ applicants?--that just sounds unreal!
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Regarding #2:
My thesis advisor recently told me about a student of his who applied to grad school in Chinese art history several years ago. She got offers from Princeton, Chicago, and Harvard. My thesis advisor helped her negotiate for more benefits which basically started a bidding war between these rich schools. The student finally decided on Harvard with $10,000 more per year than her initial offer! Ridiculous!
So I guess moral of the story is make sure you have a savvy prof to help you thorugh the process. And also that if you're an awesome student in a minority field, you'll be treated like royalty (i.e. above poverty level stipends)!
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Hey Gang, sorry for the Bolded Text in my letter to you. I wrote you that in a Google doc. and then when I copied it into the Reply Box, it just went bold, I could not turn it off (so funny that someone mentioned it), so I sent it as was.
The worst part of these comments are people who think my posts are too long (sad to see art historians who don't like reading). Have you ever been on any other Forums? What you write is actually meant for the Chat Section. Who wants to check in on a forum full of back-and-forth anxiety ridden one-liners? That's part of the reason I am leaving this thread. It's called "Fall 2013 Applicants" and people shoot one-liners all day long about getting in and not getting in. No one talks about their passions, why they applied, or what the PhD means for them, I tried and look what happened to me.
When you all get accepted to your dream programs you will be reading texts much longer and tougher than what I have written on this thread. Are you up for Benjamin, Foucault, Freud, Lacan, Marx, Kant, and Hegel? You might want to practice reading more than one line of text and posting cute animal photos.
For the record and just to kind of brag last minute--do keep an eye out on Amazon for a book in which I contributed called Theorizing Visual Studies: Writing Through the Discipline. I am 1 of 60 international graduate students chosen for the book, it was something I did while I was earning my second masters in education. It was a lot of fun! Maybe if you read it you'll learn my true identity, how wild and crazy would that be!
Lastly, if anyone wants to engage an open online dialogic community where we discuss our field, contemporary art, who is reading what, and why we want PhDs in the first place--I might start that thread topic some place if there happens to be interest. It might be fun to discuss these things while we wait for rejections and acceptances. Unlike some here, I'm an artist, art educator, and art historian with or without the PhD. It's what you love and learn, not what school, program, or degree you get.
Love you guys!
Hang in there.
Don't worry Hal, we'll have all the time in the world to talk, read, and write about art and theory in graduate school. But I just think that we gotta chill sometimes.
I betcha that if you actually met Foucault back in the day, he wouldn't care to talk about philosophy or what his PhD meant to him; he was too busy sleeping around. Or Derrida, who would actually be more likely to talk about his cat (Derrida cat memes, anyone?) than anything else--after all he wrote a whole book on his cat seeing him naked.
But you are right about trying to express our passion, though. I agree, we should be passionate about what we study and write about. Just look at Foucault, who wrote his History of Sexuality series while at Berkeley. In his free time, he's known to be that "mad French leather queen who whips anyone who’ll let him at San Francisco gay bath houses." Maybe we can discuss how Foucault's late turn to ethics as "care of self" might be related to his theory and practice of S&M? (Is that a serious enough conversation topic for you?)
- runaway, BuddingScholar, chamomile and 2 others
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Statistically speaking, we might be hearing from UChicago in the next week as well!
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I'm jealous! Post about your adventures in the museums of Paris so we can vicariously live through you. Hope you have fun!
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i'm so envious! i resolved to start doing pushups one day a few weeks ago, did some, then was so sore the next few days and realized that perhaps this isn't the time to become the like... rippling muscled man i dream to be
Haha same here! Last week I bought Muscle Milk, signed up for a spinning and a weight training class, and told myself that the Zac Efron body is gonna happen this semester. Of course that fell apart pretty quickly..... and now I'm back to slouching on the sofa all day with Netflix. Also, NEVER let yourself be convinced by friends to watch Battlestar Galactica. The best worst decision you will ever make!
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"Hey, shouldn't you be hearing back from some of these schools soon?"
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tea tree
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Top Gun
Movies art historians should watch!
in Art History
Posted
Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams
If it is ever shown 3D in a cinema again, I would fly across the country to see it!