Bard Graduate Center is devoted to the study of decorative arts, design history, and material culture through research, advanced degrees, exhibitions, publications, and events.

Bard Graduate Center advances the study of decorative arts, design history, and material culture through its object-centered approach to teaching, research, exhibitions, publications, and events.

At BGC, we study the human past and present through their material expressions. We focus on objects and other material forms—from those valued for their aesthetic elements to the ordinary things used in everyday life.

Our accomplished interdisciplinary faculty inspires and prepares students in our MA and PhD programs for successful careers in academia, museums, and the private sector. We bring equal intellectual rigor to our acclaimed exhibitions, award-winning catalogues and scholarly publications, and innovative public programs, and we view all of these integrated elements as vital to our curriculum.

BGC’s campus comprises a state-of-the-art academic programs building at 38 West 86th Street, a gallery at 18 West 86th Street, and a residence hall at 410 West 58th Street. A new collection study center will open at 8 West 86th Street in 2026.

Founded by Dr. Susan Weber in 1993, Bard Graduate Center has become the preeminent institute for academic research and exhibition of decorative arts, design history, and material culture. BGC is an accredited unit of Bard College and a member of the Association of Research Institutes in Art History (ARIAH).

Berit Hoff (MA 2010) is director of exhibitions at the Center for Architecture in New York City, where she produces exhibitions and related publications. A native of New York, she received her undergraduate degree from Cornell University. Berit was previously employed by Mark Borghi Fine Arts and interned at the Skyscraper Museum.

Why did you choose Bard Graduate Center’s program?

Though I majored in architectural history as an undergraduate, I took several courses outside of my major that dealt with design history and material culture, including a seminar on America in the machine age and an urban archaeology course with a fieldwork component. When I started looking at post-graduate options, my advisor suggested Bard Graduate Center. I received the course catalogue and was impressed by the diversity of subjects taught by this relatively small institution. It seemed like a natural complement to my studies on the “built environment.”

What did you study here? Describe a few of the highlights.

My coursework and thesis concentrated on mid-twentieth-century American design and material culture particularly on architecture and interiors. I took many courses directly related to my focus, such as Pat Kirkham’s Twentieth-Century Interiors and those that complemented my interests, including Ken Ames’ American Furniture in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. I filled my distribution requirements with two courses on the Islamic world—one on books and the other on cities. I find myself referring to these more than I would ever have imagined at the time.

Describe your position at the Center for Architecture.

The Center has an ambitious program of around twenty exhibitions a year. My role is a mix of long-term planning regarding our annual exhibition schedule and related programs, and project management, particularly for the exhibitions we develop in house, for which we hire curators, graphic designers and architects. I am very proud of the main exhibition currently on view, Prague Functionalism: Tradition and Contemporary Echoes, a travelling exhibition from the Czech Republic. We worked with the exhibition designer to supplement the presentation with a full scale reproduction of a so-called “minimal dwelling unit” (Czech nejmenší byt) based on the writing of Karel Teige that includes reproduction furniture and original light fixtures from the 1920s and 1930s.

What ultimately is your professional goal?

My interests lie in design across a wide range of scales, from small objects to cities. I enjoy the work I do in exhibitions and programs at the Center for Architecture and hope to continue in this realm. In the future I would be interested in working with modernist historic homes or other modernist buildings, especially since more important examples are being converted into museums and cultural centers.