Critical Practice

Critical Practice is not a formal area of study in the School of Art; however, the critical and theoretical elements undergirding the studio-based practice of students extends through multiple courses and initiatives offered throughout the School. These initiatives include ongoing cooperations with other professional schools and departments at the University that take the form of interdisciplinary workshops, international fellowships and residencies, seminar series, applied research projects, and extensive public programming—all of which seeks to engage multiple disciplines and a broader public in expanding the pedagogical framework surrounding the study of art.

The course ART 949a, Diving into the Wreck, serves as the foundation upon which the School’s manifold offerings in Critical Practice expand. All MFA students are enrolled in the course during their first year, which is taught by Stavros Niarchos Foundation Dean and Professor of Art Marta Kuzma, alongside visiting faculty in Critical Practice. In an exploration of how the self-motivated impulse toward autonomy is mirrored within the very constitution of a work of art, the course aims toward a cultivation of consciousness that extends self-knowledge into sense of community through the act of critical reflection.

Courses in Critical Practice offered at the School are deeply integrated within each MFA program and include:

ART 912, The Sensitive Machine (in cooperation with the Center for Engineering Innovation and Design)

ART 916b, Research Methods and Practices

ART 949a, Diving into the Wreck: Rethinking Critical Practice

ART 963a, Cryptocurrency Workshop (in cooperation with the Yale School of Management)