MFA with Transfer to Studio PhD

Rolling admission until June 1 (MFA) / June
7 (PhD) 2011
 
Website
 
TRANSART INSTITUTE is offering the first
studio-based PhD in an international low-residency format. The institute seeks
to attract independent, inquisitive and imaginative artists. In a uniquely
international setting, Transart Insitute offers a two year MFA in Creative
Practice and practice-based studies leading to a doctor of philosophy (PhD)
degree for working artists, teachers and all professionals in related fields
who are seeking advancement in visual arts and new media.
 
The MPhil/PhD is a three to four year full
time degree program with an average work commitment of 30 hours per week.
Registration is initially for the MPhil stage, with students transferring to
PhD registration at the end of the first year. The Degree is only offered for
practice-based research (creative work) accompanied by a written thesis.
 
The MFA program consists of three intensive
summer residencies in Europe filled with lectures, workshops, critiques,
seminars, performances and exhibitions and two shorter winter residencies in
New York City. In the four semesters between residencies, students create an
individual course of study realizing art and research projects with the support
of faculty and self-chosen studio advisors wherever they work and live.
 
Transfer from the MFA to the MPhil/PhD is
possible at the end of the first year with an accepted proposal.
 
 
SUMMER RESIDENCIES
 
Summer Residencies are both milestones and
resources, taking place at the beginning middle and end of the two year
program. Residencies open with a thesis exhibition, performances and a public
vernissage. Weeks one and three consist of studio workshops, week two focuses
on cultural studies seminars, Fridays center on student presentations. In
addition, guest lectures, artist and curator talks and critiques as well as
individual meetings with faculty take place each week in order for students to
plan, inform and finalize the coming year’s project. Further details online.
 
 
WINTER RESIDENCIES
 
The focus is on presentations, critiques,
feedback and the sharing of resources mid-way through studio and research
projects. Students have the opportunity to experiment with presentation forms
in order to explore exhibition, performance and documentation possibilities in
anticipation of the summer thesis exhibition. Guest artist talks, screenings
and practical topical workshops complete the residency. This winter’s schedule
can be found in the calendar.
 
FACULTY
 
Transart faculty comes from a wide range of
academic and artistic backgrounds as well as geographic locations. Current
theoretical areas of expertise include software art, curatorial work,
cyberfeminism, African diaspora, interface technologies, digital arts,
continental philosophy, media, social studies in colonialism, capitalism and
tourism, word and image relationships, and contemporary asian art history.
Studio faculty include international artists working with sound, performance,
dance and choreography, photography, drawing, sculpture, film and video, intervention
and installation art. Details online.
 
STUDENT EXPERIENCE
 
The majority of Transart students are
emerging and mid-career artists and educators at tertiary institutions.
Transart Institute’s residencies are a meeting place for cultural exchange.
Transart students and alumni will converge for the summer residency from areas
as diverse as Italy, Egypt, Pakistan, Iceland, Croatia, Ethiopia, Canada, Costa
Rica, the UK and the US.
 
For many students the time at Transart is a
transformational experience. New York based artist Virgil Wong found “The
community I’ve become a part of through Transart is already much more immersive
than what I’ve developed in ten years of living and working as an artist in New
York City”. Photographer and performer Angelika Rinnhofer found that “to work
independently can pose a challenge but it also offers freedom and flexibility.
Since a large number of students are accomplished artists and earn a living,
Transart’s concept is ideal to work toward a degree and to expand one’s
artistic career in addition to having a job.” For composer and artist David
Dunn “perhaps the most important aspect of the program, to me personally, has
been the realization of just how constrained my professional life can be. I
have no lack of colleagues or opportunities to present my work but my network
of association tends to reinforce a particular set of intellectual and
aesthetic assumptions that become ‘the’ set of assumptions. Transart succeeds
at prying apart some of those entrenched viewpoints to provide space for new
ideas and concerns. The truly international makeup of the students and faculty
reinforces this.” More details online.
 
ADMISSION
 
MFA: Application deadline is June 1, 2011
with rolling admissions (pending availability of places). Applications can be submitted online.
 
MPhil/PhD: Application deadline is June 7,
2011. The application should include a detailed proposal. The process is
explained online.
 
TUITION, SCHOLARSHIPS, FINANCING
 
Tuition is $9,760 per semester for the MFA
and 10,520 per semester for the MPhil/PhD with a reduced fee of $3,250 for the
write-up year. Some partial scholarships (typically 10-25%) are available for
the MFA and will be awarded with acceptance into the program. Transart
Developing Country MFA Scholarships of 50% are given to residents/citizens of
countries on the List of Developing Countries as published by the Australian
Government. Some assistantships covering a small portion of the tuition are
available for the PhD program. Please note that Transart Institute has no full
scholarships. Additional financing might be available through sources in the
student’s country of residence and/or citizenship.  University of Plymouth’s re-certification as a foreign
school is complete and a school code for U.S. student loans will be issued in
the coming weeks.
 
For further information please contact
Selina Heaton: [email protected]
 
Cella, MFA,
Klaus Knoll, PhD
Directors, Transart Institute
 
www.transart.org
 
Phone: (347) 410