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Bard Graduate Center is an advanced graduate research institute in New York City dedicated to the cultural histories of the material world. Our MA and PhD degree programs, Gallery exhibitions, research initiatives, scholarly publications and public programs explore new ways of thinking about decorative arts, design history, and material culture.

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Applications for our MA program may be submitted until March 1, 2025





About

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).


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From left: Jesse Merandy, Bailey Tichenor (MA ‘19), Walt Whitman, and Emma Cormack (MA ‘18).


On May 14, the Poet of the Body: Walt Whitman’s New York exhibition opened at the Grolier Club featuring a digital interactive developed by Bard Graduate Center’s Jesse Merandy, director of the Digital Media Lab, and his students Lolly Burrows, Taryn Clary, Emma Cormack, Rebecca Merriman, and Bailey Tichenor. Merandy recently received his PhD from the Graduate Center, CUNY, with the completion of the institution’s first digital dissertation—a mobile game based on Walt Whitman.

The Grolier interactive, conceived and designed during Merandy’s spring 2018 course, “Digital Archeology: Approaching History through New Media,” explores exhibition objects through the lens of the digital, seeking to enhance the visitor’s experience and expand their understanding of Walt Whitman, his work, and his historical context. Components include a modernized take on stereograph technology, a virtual walk down Broadway circa 1850, a look at Whitman’s clothing and style, an exploration of Whitman’s personal copy of a Robert Burns book, a 3D re-creation of a ring containing Whitman’s hair, and a presentation of a wide array of Whitman-related ephemera.

On June 18, Merandy and his students gave a presentation, entitled “I Sing the Exhibition Digital,” at the Grolier Club.

The project was made possible through the generous support of exhibition curator Susan Jaffe Tane, and in collaboration with co-curator Karen Karbiener, Julie Carlsen, Gabriel Mckee and the staff of the Grolier Club.