Bard Graduate Center is devoted to the study of decorative arts, design history, and material culture through research, advanced degrees, exhibitions, publications, and events.

Bard Graduate Center advances the study of decorative arts, design history, and material culture through its object-centered approach to teaching, research, exhibitions, publications, and events.

At BGC, we study the human past and present through their material expressions. We focus on objects and other material forms—from those valued for their aesthetic elements to the ordinary things used in everyday life.

Our accomplished interdisciplinary faculty inspires and prepares students in our MA and PhD programs for successful careers in academia, museums, and the private sector. We bring equal intellectual rigor to our acclaimed exhibitions, award-winning catalogues and scholarly publications, and innovative public programs, and we view all of these integrated elements as vital to our curriculum.

BGC’s campus comprises a state-of-the-art academic programs building at 38 West 86th Street, a gallery at 18 West 86th Street, and a residence hall at 410 West 58th Street. A new collection study center will open at 8 West 86th Street in 2026.

Founded by Dr. Susan Weber in 1993, Bard Graduate Center has become the preeminent institute for academic research and exhibition of decorative arts, design history, and material culture. BGC is an accredited unit of Bard College and a member of the Association of Research Institutes in Art History (ARIAH).

Image credit: Beau Rhee by Maria Baranova

Library Artist in Residence
September 2021–June 2022

Total Artists Selected: 2

APPLY
DEADLINE: July 15, 2021 | 11:59 pm EST

The Bard Graduate Center’s Library Artist in Residence (AIR) program invites artists whose practice is grounded in research to use our library collection as an incubator for new work that will interact with our collection in new and non-traditional ways. Artists are invited to conduct research in subject areas relating to their work or to address the library itself as an organized collection of print material, utilizing the library’s reference staff as thought partners in this process. Library AIRs will have the opportunity to present their work. This could take the form of a pop-up exhibition, a library intervention, a publishing project, a public workshop, or an artist talk. Bard Graduate Center will award selected artists a $1000 stipend and a $500 materials budget.

Guidelines Here.
Apply Here.

For more information, contact Emily Reilly, Director of Public Engagement at emily.reilly@bgc.bard.edu