Independent study offers students the opportunity to pursue research in areas beyond the range of the standard curriculum. Through independent study, students further their knowledge …

The nineteenth century was a modernist century. Born out of late eighteenth-century revolutions in philosophy, science, and industry, the nineteenth century was primed to embrace …

Research on technology has long prioritized tools over containers, privileging action, agency, and intervention—traits culturally coded as masculine—over receptivity, support, and relational capacity. …

This field seminar introduces students to the studies of fashion and dress in art history through close readings of key literature from the 1950s, when …

In many societies worldwide, museums of all kinds remain immensely popular. However, museums face an increasing skepticism regarding their roles in society, which, together with …

As the Artificial Intelligence cold war heats up, the blockchain seeks to upend global economies, and cultural production is ceded more and more to algorithms, …

Ruled by the Manchus, the Qing empire was a multiethnic, multicultural regime with an expansive territory and global connections. The visual and material culture of …

Objects and materials are threads of connection that influence the societal, cultural, and political conditions of communities. Migration, trade, and exchange have been an important …

Sylvester Manor is a Georgian-era plantation home on Shelter Island, New York that was built in 1652 to act as a provisioning plantation for the Barbados …

This course investigates how individuals and groups have deployed material culture to challenge, redefine, and expand constructs of citizenship and belonging in the United States …

This two-semester, team-taught course introduces incoming students to major historical developments in decorative arts, design, and material culture from antiquity to the present. Monday evening …

This course is required for entering students who have not taken a course deemed comparable. Drawing on the expertise of BGC faculty, it introduces incoming …

This two-semester practicum on Tuesday afternoons develops techniques for effective graduate-level writing through practical exercises and workshop sessions. Drawing on the assignments and readings in 500…

All students are encouraged to attend the rich program of lectures, symposia, seminars, performances, lunches, and talks organized by Bard Graduate Center’s Public Humanities + …

This seminar explores the evolution of ceramic techniques and materials within the wider contexts of economic, social, and cultural life. We will study the role …

How did early modern people cook, serve, and eat? Was there a Renaissance on the table? New markets, and the advent of printing in the …

Monuments, from the Latin monere, are things that remind, warn, or teach; memorials, as their name implies, serve as tangible markers of memory. But who …

Over the past two centuries, the museum has emerged as one of the primary institutional venues for intercultural encounter mediated by objects. Practices of both …

This course explores the multiple modes of object-based engagement intrinsic to modern curatorial practice, with an emphasis on storytelling through display. Structured around a critical …

This course will pursue the theme of metamorphosis in Renaissance art and decoration in terms of narrative illustration but also as a ruling metaphor and …