Students may take courses at our consortium partner institutions which include Columbia University (COL), Cooper Hewitt, Parsons School of Design (CH), the City University of …

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 …

This two-and-a-half week August session includes introductions to resources at Bard Graduate Center, as well as required digital and writing seminars, and language classes, if …

Get in the Game is an exploration of the material world of gaming. Throughout the semester we will trace the history of games and gameplay …

In fall 2023, Bard Graduate Center Gallery will host the exhibition "SIGHTLINES with Peace, Power, Prestige: The Metal Arts of Africa." The exhibition places historical metalwork …

Abolitionist Thomas Wentworth Higginson declared Thoreau's Walden; Or Life in the Woods (1854) to be "the only book yet written in America, to my thinking, that …

Do objects have politics? This course will examine intersections of design and ideology in objects, buildings, and built space across the various political, cultural, and …

From its origins in the abandoned Château de Vincennes in 1740, the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory has produced an extraordinary variety of objects, including tableware, …

As a major discipline studying material culture, art history has seen an important recent development, which can be called the “global turn.” A new wave …

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 course engages with the challenge posed by Black feminist scholars to engage in a critical reanalysis of the history of the US, with an …

This seminar offers an introduction to the Qin and Han dynasties by examining major archaeological finds, including the tomb complex of the First Emperor and …

This course will examine key concepts in material culture that require us to examine objects through the scientist’s lens. Our topics will include patina …

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 …

In the late Medieval and early modern periods, fine textiles were highly treasured commodities, esteemed art forms, and prominent indicators of power, status, and taste. …

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 course offers an introduction to the material environment of China’s political and intellectual elites during the last four imperial dynasties (Song, Yuan, Ming, …

This seminar surveys anthropological theories of art and material culture with a cross-cultural purview and a concentration on global Indigenous societies in colonial and contemporary …

In the past century scholarship on art and material culture has benefited greatly from the discussion of the materials and ideas relating to the Mediterranean …

The exhibition, where objects are grouped together for a limited time to elucidate a particular thesis or argument, has been a key curatorial practice since …

This course will introduce students to the historical archaeology of New York City and to the material traces of the past that lie beneath our …

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 …