The Interdisciplinary Art and Theory Program is accepting applications for the 2025-2026 session.
The tuition-free, two-semester program meets Fridays at Jack Shainman Gallery in Chelsea. The Program runs from September to November, and then February to May. The Program offers reading seminars about the year’s principle themes, as well as a series of invited guests and two Distinguished Lectures (the latter are open to the public), and studio visits from guests and seminar leaders. More details on the program and application process are listed below and available at artandtheoryprogram.org
Application Deadline
All application materials and supporting documents must be received by June 30th, 2025. Applicants will be notified by July 29th.
2025-2026 Theme: Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Project
The Arcades Project is a uniquely influential project of cultural criticism composed of short writings, quotations, and fragments drawn from a wide array of philosophical and literary texts. It was written over the course of a decade and left unfinished at the time of Benjamin’s death in 1940. No expertise with the book is expected or required, and our aim is not to offer a comprehensive overview of it. Rather, it is to use the text as a basis for conversations aligned with Benjamin’s overarching project of trying to comprehend the present through surprising juxtapositions of objects, ideas, and vignettes of modern life. After a few preliminary seminars orienting participants into some of the major themes of the text (including systems of knowledge, thinking in dark times, the commodification of things, and the encyclopedic impulse), future meetings will involve seminar leaders going more deeply into AP, pairing it with other texts, or picking up on one of its many threads and taking it in a new direction. Our overarching aim is less commentary than methodology: while we hope to gain a better collective understanding of Benjamin, our main focus will be on understanding how his project can inspire our own interrogations of the world around us.
All Applications Must Include:
· A resume or C.V. including name, address, and telephone number.
· One letter of recommendation (may be sent under separate cover and can be general and brief. we strongly prefer letters to
arrive by the deadline).
· A statement discussing your work, educational experience, intellectual interests, and why you would like to participate in the Program (2 double-spaced pages max).
· 5-10 sample images for artists OR
10-15 double-spaced pages of sample writing(s) for writers.
All documents must be sent in PDF form to info@artandtheoryprogram.org. Format for the file names should be as follows:
FirstNameSurname_Resume
FirstNameSurname_Statement
FirstNameSurname_Sample
The program is free to participants
Eligibility
Those eligible for participation include established and emerging artists, art critics, graduate students, candidates for advanced postgraduate degrees, recent undergraduates with a demonstrated capacity for advanced scholarship, or those who have recently completed formal academic study (MFA, PhD, etc.).
Application Deadline
All application materials and supporting documents must be received by June 30th. Applicants will be notified by July 29th.