The three configurations of studio-art PhDs

Abstract

It seems to me that the PhD in visual arts is inescapable: it is on the horizon. What is needed is an investigation into the conceptual shapes that the new degrees might take. The United States is well positioned to do this, and to become the place where such programs are rethought from the ground up. At least there’s a chance of doing this in the United States, because it does not have the administrative structures (such as the RAE) and jargon (the call for a new definition of “research”) that shape doctoral programs in the United Kingdom.