60 Credit Hours
Practice the Art of Fearlessness
Interdisciplinarity, as a means of connecting and integrating distinct creative methodologies, is a defining characteristic of contemporary art practice. For Columbia’s graduate Interdisciplinary Arts and Media degree, students are encouraged to confront traditional ideas about creative practice by working across disciplines—such as visual art, dance, music, theater, or literary arts—to catalyze radically new inquiries, methods, and forms of art-making.
Students become fearless innovators in contemporary art by approaching interdisciplinarity as a fluid term—it may mean that they ground their work in research, tools or techniques from disciplines outside the field of art, work with artists from other art mediums or non-artists, or create artwork that is itself interdisciplinary: an artist book, an installation, a sculptural work incorporating sound, an interactive video, etc.
students become fearless innovators in contemporary art by approaching interdisciplinarity as a fluid term
MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts & Media
The graduate Interdisciplinary Arts and Media program is designed for studio and performing artists who want to incorporate new media into their artistic practice and for media artists who want to expand into areas such as performance, installation, interactive and community-based art. Students are encouraged to engage with new technology and to experiment with media as a tool for inspiring a diverse array of artistic outcomes. The program encourages students to create a body of work that reflects the complexity of their world. They are also asked to consider the context for that work—who is the audience, where will it be seen, how will it be presented? The emphasis on both creative practice and professional practice gives students an advantage—they become not only innovative practitioners, but sophisticated professionals who understand how to position themselves in the contemporary art landscape.
Small class sizes allow for deep engagement and personal interaction between students and their faculty
In three years of focused study, graduate Interdisciplinary Arts and Media students explore the history, theory, tools and techniques of numerous creative disciplines, learn to effectively integrate those methodologies around a conceptual framework, and ultimately shape their ideas into radically new art forms made manifest in a significant body of work. Small class sizes allow for deep engagement and personal interaction between students and their faculty. During the development of their thesis, students work closely with a committee of their selection composed of faculty and prominent arts professionals from outside the department. Recent external advisors include: Joline Blais, Melissa Ragona, Betty Bright, and Gail Deery.
the student's classroom and studio experience is enriched by a Visiting Artist program that allows for meaningful interaction with internationally renowned practitioners
Dialogue With the Contemporary Art World
The classroom and studio experience for graduate Interdisciplinary Arts and Media students is enriched by a Visiting Artist program that allows for meaningful interaction—through seminars, workshops, lectures, and individual critiques—with internationally renowned practitioners. Recent visiting artists include: John Boesche, Arnold Dreyblatt, Keith Hennessey, Eungie Joo, Alison Knowles, Margot Lovejoy, Mary Lucier, Christina McPhee, Bill Viola, Diane Willow, Paul Wong, Trevor Paglen, Tim Barrett, David Stout and Cory Metcalf.