AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

FOUR OPEN SPACES: First Studio-based PhD in the US

Transart Institute seeks applicants for four remaining spaces on its
practice-based PhD studies starting July 2011. Transart Institute offers a
UK-validated course of studies leading to a PhD for working artists, art
faculty and all professionals in related fields who are seeking advancement
in visual arts and new media.

INTRODUCTION

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Transart Institute, through the School of Art & Media and the Graduate
School at University of Plymouth is offering a low-residency PhD degree for
advanced studio art and scholarly study.

MPhil/PhD
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 with a word count to be agreed upon
with advisors, generally 40,000-80,000 words.

Proposals
Transart is particularly keen on encouraging proposals that in the widest
sense explore space and inhabitation of space, the archive, documentary art
making, language/image, software studies, network culture, performance and
the role of art in peace, mediation and international relations. The
proposal should demonstrate systematic study, independence, critical
competence and originality. It should include a record of the 'practice'
element and also serve to contextualize the practice intellectually while
clearly demonstrating its contribution to knowledge.

Goals
The course of studies at Transart Institute aims to create a space for
students of all disciplines to interact with a wide range of artists,
scientists, theorists, media practitioners and visionaries. Students
investigate their work independently in both a cultural and studio context.
The a-disciplinary model at Transart Institute is designed to enrich
students' praxis; foster change; facilitate a connection between group and
personal work; provide the means for contextualizing work in the wider
world; and develop interaction strategies with audiences. PhD research is
expected to contribute significantly to the current creative cultural
dialogue through informed, published, exhibited or performed work and
documentation thereof.

PhD project and thesis
The PhD builds on the achievements of student's Masters level work, by
developing a creative project of significant and relevant practice-based
research which represent an original contribution to the fields of art and
culture. The specifics of each practice-based PhD project are particular to
the goals and interests of the candidate. The thesis will show systematic
study, independence, critical competence, originality and will be capable of
publication in whole or in part. It will include a record of the practice
element and also serve to contextualise the practice intellectually while
clearly demonstrating its contribution to knowledge. The relationship
between the studio-based work and the written work as practice-based
research activities share a common set of resources. Therefore studio and
written components of the PhD project are to be conceived of as a whole.

PhD project presentation
Students experiment with exhibition and presentation possibilities at the
penultimate summer residency in preparation for the PhD project presentation
the following summer at the Transartfest. As appropriate to the nature of
the PhD project, students have the option to exhibit, perform or document
their projects.

Location
Transart Institute is an international program. Summer residencies take
place in cooperation with arts organizations in Europe. Winter residencies
take place in New York at various arts initiatives and galleries or
University of Plymouth. Transart Institute provides a range of accommodation
listings and arranges a special group rate at a student hotel each summer as
well as student travel and city guides. Most students prefer to stay
together but students make their own arrangements for travel, accommodations
and meals during the residencies so many options are available. Travel info
can be found here: http://www.transartinstitute.org/Travel.html

STRUCTURE OF STUDIES

YEAR 1 MPhil
Summer residency research training and support study sessions
Week 1: Elected studio topical workshop
Week 2: Elected cultural studies topical seminar
Week 3: Seminar Research Methoologies 1, planning sessions, group and
individual critiques, lectures
Offsite: Develop proposal, critique group meetings and individual
supervision
Winter residency support studies: research presentations, group and
individual critiques, lectures
Weekend: Seminar Research Methodologies 2 (Bennett)

YEAR 2 PhD
Summer residency research training and support study sessions
Week 1: PhD research proposal presentation, first possible transfer to PhD
registration from MPhil
Week 2: Seminar Art as Research, Research as Art, critiques, lectures
Offsite: Development of practice-based research project, critique group
meetings and individual supervision
Winter residency support studies: research presentations, group and
individual critiques, lectures

YEAR 3 PhD
Summer residency research training and support study sessions
Week 1: PhD research presentation
Week 2: Seminar Framing a Practice 2, critiques, lectures
Offsite: Completion of practice-based research project, critique group
meetings and individual supervision
Winter residency support studies: research presentations, group and
individual critiques, lectures

YEAR 4-7 Thesis write-up year(s)

FINAL summer residency
Week 1: Research result presentations, viva voce, pedagogical praxis
seminar, lectures
Fall: PhD award letters

FACULTY AND STUDENTS
Transart faculty and students come from a wide range of academic and
artistic backgrounds as well as geographic locations. A majority of Transart
students are emerging and mid-career artists and teachers at tertiary
institutions.

Summer faculty includes
Radhika Subramaniam, a curator, editor and writer based in New York. She is
presently the Director/Chief Curator of the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center
at Parsons The New School for Design where she is also assistant professor
of Art and Design History and Theory.

Nicolas Estevez, FF Alumn, is an interdisciplinary artist working mostly in
performance art and public interventions. His projects have been exhibited
extensively internationally at venues such as , P.S.1/MoMA, Madrid
Abierto/ARCO, Havana Biennial, El Museo del Barrio, Bronx Museum of the
Arts. Estevez has been awarded a commission to present a town-wide project
as part of The MacDowell Colony Centennial. His work has been reviewed in
The New York Times, NYArts Magazine, The Boston Globe, Art Nexus, Flash Art,
Cuban Arts, and in major publications in Mexico, Spain and the Dominican
Republic.

David Dunn, a composer and artist who is internationally known for his
articulation of frameworks that combine the arts and sciences towards
practical environmental activism and problem solving. He has been the
recipient of over 35 grants and fellowships for both artistic and scientific
research, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller
Foundation, Langlois Foundation, Ford Foundation, and various US embassies.
In 2005, he received the prestigious Alpert Award for music, and the Henry
Cowell Award from the American Music Center in 2007.

Geoff Cox, a Researcher in Digital Aesthetics in the Department of
Information and Media Studies at Aarhus University (DK). He is also an
occasional artist, writer, and Associate Curator of Online Projects,
Arnolfini, Bristol (UK), and Reader in Art and Technology, University of
Plymouth (UK) where he is part of KURATOR/Art and Social Technologies
Research group. He is an editor for the DATA Browser book series (published
by Autonomedia), and co-edited 'Economising Culture' (2004), 'Engineering
Culture' (2005) and 'Creating Insecurity' (2009). His research interests lie
in the areas of software studies, network culture and a reappraisal of the
concept of the 'public'.

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.

All faculty bios: http://www.transartinstitute.org/members.html
Students' experiences.http://www.transartinstitute.org/Profiles.html
Student works and websites. http://www.transartinstitute.org/Students.html

APPLICATION DEADLINE is July 1, 2011 with rolling admissions.
Admissions information.http://www.transartinstitute.org/Admissions.html

General information: www.transartinstitute.org
For specific information please contact Selina Heaton:
info@transartinstitute.org
USA: +1 (347) 410 9905 | Fax: (508) 682 2853

Summer residency | July 23 - August 13, 2011 | Tanzfabrik, Berlin
Winter residency | January 5 - 8, 2012 | Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, New
York
Transartfest: Berlin, August 4-5, 2012

MFA Creative Practice and PhD studies validated by University of Plymouth UK
| www.plymouth.ac.uk

Transart Institute
www.transart.org
info@transart.org

from Franklin Furnace