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).

Deena Engel’s research interests focus on the conservation and theory of time-based media art and specifically on computer-based art. She has a BA from Jackson College of Tufts University in French and German; an MA from SUNY-Binghamton in comparative literature with a focus on literary translation from French and German; and an MS in computer science from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University. Engel is the codirector, along with Prof. Glenn Wharton, of the Artist Archives Initiative, a research project designed to leverage technology to house and disseminate information on contemporary art. She has worked with major museums over the past sixteen years on projects which address the challenges involved in the conservation of time-based media art and is coeditor of the Routledge volume Conservation of Time-Based Media Art. Engel has taught undergraduate computer science courses on web and database technologies, as well as courses for undergraduate and graduate students in the digital humanities and the arts. She is currently a PhD candidate at Bard Graduate Center in New York City.