Contemporary Art, Design and New Media Art Histories (MA)

The Masters of Arts in Contemporary Art, Design and New Media Art Histories explores today’s creative practices and works produced since 1970. OCAD University is one of only a few universities in North America that concentrates on current artists and issues. It’s the first program in Ontario to offer a graduate specialization in design history.

In this program you’ll be shaping contemporary art, design and new media scholarship. OCAD University is a unique place to study this exciting field – the program is small, so you’ll get personal attention, have access to top-notch faculty and be studying at Canada’s largest art, design and new media university. You’ll work with the producers of cutting-edge art, design and new media in your studies.

This program is normally completed in two years. Students in this program can take advantage of being located in the heart of Toronto’s cultural district – you’ll have access to the archives of major institutions only a few blocks away such as the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto International Film Festival and the Design Exchange.

You should have an honours, four-year bachelor’s degree in art history, visual culture, communications or a similar program to apply.

What will you learn?

The program comprises the following:

You’ll learn to understand the zeitgeist, current movements and practices in today’s art, design and new media world. You’ll use established conventions of art history, theory and terminology in seminars and engage in independent study.

You can take courses from any of three specializations. You will choose one as your focus:

• Contemporary Art History
• Design History
• New Media Art History

Drawing on the long established discipline of art history and sharing analytical techniques, theory and terminology, these three areas of study are complementary. However, these areas of investigation and specialization bear and retain their own distinctiveness, which is emphasized in field-specific seminars and independent study. While students may take courses in any one of the three specializations, one field will be selected as the focus for the degree.

The MA in Contemporary Art, Design and New Media Art Histories is a full-time, 7.5 credit program normally completed within two years (five semesters).

• Two core graduate courses
• Field-specific graduate seminars
• Two electives
• Individual reading and research
• Major Research Paper (MRP) / Thesis writing workshop
• MRP or Thesis

• Lady Gaga and the Other: Persona, Art and Monstrosity
• The Comic’s Heartbeat: Framing Affective Structures in Comics History
• Hip Hop as a Tool of Decolonization
• New Media as a Platform for Indigenous Self-Representation and Social-Political Activism

You’ll be at the centre of contemporary art scholarship by planning and hosting the CADN Graduate Students’ Conference which is a major conference that attracts students and art historians from across the country.

What will I be able to do with my degree?

After graduating, you’ll be positioned to continue your research in a PhD program in cultural studies or contemporary art.

More and more contemporary art galleries and institutions are opening every day. These spaces want to hire people with their finger on the pulse of contemporary art and how it relates to history. Graduating with this highly prized skill set will give you a leg-up on students coming from traditional art programs.

Graduates from this program work as magazine and journal editors, researchers and curators.

Objectives

• To cultivate original research into the analysis of contemporary art, design and new media art
• To provide students with advanced writing and research skills for historical, critical and theoretical investigations
• To prepare students for employment by galleries, museums and other art institutions
• To ready students for continuing research in PhD programs

Key features

• Contemporary Art History at OCAD University is one of only a few programs that concentrate solely on contemporary artists and issues attending current and recent cultural production.
• OCAD University is the first university in Ontario, and second in Canada, to offer a specialization in design history at the graduate level.
• New Media Art History is a pioneering specialization since most graduate programs focusing on new media are practice-based or housed in communication studies. OCAD University's New Media Art History joins a select handful in the world examining technological work in an art historical context.
• With an extensive core faculty, this program offers students an impressive array of perspectives from which to explore the ever-shifting worlds of contemporary art, design and new media art. Faculty not only specialize in the histories of these areas of production, but they also engage in a range of critical and interdisciplinary theories.
• The moderate size of the program (approximately 16 students per year) ensures that each student receives personalized attention.
• OCAD University's community of student programs provide an active hub of experimentation in all types of media and design. Students are situated in a context of ongoing artistic activity, a vibrant research culture, and an expanding slate of graduate programs.
• Located in downtown Toronto, students are immersed in an energetic centre of production, exhibition, collection and research. Major institutions such as the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Power Plant, and the Design Exchange, as well as numerous independent galleries and artist-run spaces, showcase an abundant variety of contemporary art. Other public institutions, such as the Royal Ontario Museum, the Gardiner Museum, and the Textile Museum contain libraries, archives and collections that expand the possibilities for research.