MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History: Critical and Curatorial Studies (MODA)
The MODA program prepares future scholars, critics, and curators with advanced study in the history and theory of modern and contemporary art and culture. Established in 1997, the program is one of two free-standing Masters programs in the Department of Art History and Archaeology––the other, the MA in Art History (MAAH) for pre-20th century areas––devoted to the study of 20th and 21st century art.
The course of study enables each student to pursue their own unique, interdisciplinary curriculum based upon individual interests and goals. Founded on the conviction that art historians and critics need to understand curatorial thinking, and curators need to accrue extensive knowledge of art history and critical theory, all students take in their first year the wo required courses: the Critical Methods Colloquium and the Curatorial Colloquium. The first covers method, historiography, and criticism, and the second the history, theory and practice of museum, exhibition and curating. Each colloquium is also designed so that students engage with a range of professionals (academics, critics, artists and curators) through a guest speaker series and curatorial walk-throughs at museums and other institutions. Invited speakers hail from domestic and international universities, museums, think tanks, and art journals: past ones including professors from Harvard, Yale, the University of Texas, Austin, the University of British Columbia; critics from the New York Times, Artforum, Spike Art Magazine; curators at the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, Whitechapel Art Gallery, among many others.
During their course of study, students benefit from the full range of expertise of the distinguished faculty in Columbia’s Department of Art History and Archaeology, as well as Columbia at large, taking elective lecture and seminar classes alongside MA and PhD students across the department and University. They also benefit from specific programs crafted uniquely for MODA, including the competitive MODA Curates, in which fellows mount an exhibition in relation to their thesis in Columbia’s Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery; MODA Critical Review, a student-run journal of art and criticism; and Works in Progress: Artists and Art Historians Present. Graduates of MODA have been accepted to prestigious doctoral programs (at Yale, Princeton, the CUNY Graduate Center, among others), secured curatorial positions at museums (the Museum of Modern Art; the New Museum; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, to name a few) and gallery research and sales positions (i.e. David Zwirner gallery, Gagosian gallery), as well as positions at art advisory firms and non-profits, such as the Public Art Fund.
Students may enroll full-time (2 years) or part-time (2-4 years), The program culminates in the preparation of an independent thesis. Students produce a written thesis based on rigorous, original research under the supervision of a faculty advisor of the student’s choosing. Students may also select to conceive an exhibition-based thesis project.