Participate in enriching lectures and programs while gaining hands-on experience.
Distinguished Visiting Artist Program
Learn from visiting senior artists through their intensive seminars and engage with them in graduate student critiques. Visiting artists assist MFA students in the development of their work and professional career.
Some of the past visiting artists include Rebecca Belmore, Liesbeth Bik and Jos van der Pol, Mark Boulos, David Claerbout, Maria Eichhorn, Andrea Fraser, Melanie Gilligan, Dan Graham, Brian Jungen, Mary Kelly, Michael Krebber, Scott Lyall, Ken Lum, Josephine Pryde, Jeanne Randolph, Stefan Romer, Cheyney Thompson, Kerry Tribe, Francesco Vezzoli, Ian Wallace and Li Yifan.
Upcoming Seminar
Joan Carlisle-Irving Lecture Series
Gain knowledge from a variety of speakers from across disciplines through the Joan Carlisle-Irving Lecture Series. The lectures bring international and Canadian artists, critics, curators, and scholars who address challenging and topical themes relevant to the study and practice of art in today’s world.
Past speakers include Barbara Abou-El-Haj, Arjun Appadurai, David Avelos, Craig Baldwin, Bruce Barber, John Barrel, Lutz Becker, Xu Bing, Ina Blom, Iain Boal, Yve-Alain Bois, Manuel Borja-Villa, Michael Camille, Paul Chan, James Clifford, Thomas Cummins, Lynne Cohen, Annie Coombes, Lisa Corrin, Barbara Evans, Teresa de Lauretis, Max Dean, Jim Drobnick and Jennifer Fisher, Peter Galison and Caroline Jones, Michael Gaudio, Faye Ginsburg, Guillermo Gomez-Pena, Oliver Grau, Tapati Guha-thakurta, Martin Guttmann, Ron Hamilton, Hou Hanru, Jamie Hilder, Wu Hung, Wang Jianwei, David Joselit, E. Ann Kaplan, Webb Keane, Cecilia Klein, Norman M. Klein, Joseph Koerner, Vasif Kortun, Ewa Lajer-Burcharth, Dana Leibsohn, Evelyn Lincoln and David Solcan, Akira Lippit, Martin Lister, Sharon Lockhart, Maureen Lunn, Andrew MacIntosh, Lev Manovich, Oswaldo Marcia, Alan Marcus, Teresa Margolles, Laura Marks, Paul McCarthy, James Meyer, Regis Michael, Walter Mignolo, Joseph Monteyne, Laura Mulvey, Loretta Napoleoni, Diane Nelson, Miles Ogborn, Fred Orton, Vong Phaophanit, Manuel Pina, Christopher Pinney, Stephen Prina, Wang Qingsong, Walid Ra’ad, Jeanne Randolph, Jolene Rickard, Eric Rosenberg, Eric Santner, Julian Stallabrass, Christopher Steiner, Jessica Stockholder, Rob Stone, Nicholas Thomas, Dot Tuer, Jonathan Weinberg, John Welchman, Christopher Williams, Karla Jessen Williamson, Bronwen Wilson, Martha Wilson and Shengtian Zheng.
Open Studios
MFA students hold open studios around the second week of December. Students distribute invitations and posters in advance – inviting faculty, staff, undergraduates, and the general public to view their work. The evaluation of students’ artwork by visual art faculty members also corresponds to these open studios.
Annual UBC Art History Graduate Symposia
The Art History Graduate Symposia is an annual graduate student-run event. The symposium runs concurrently with an exhibition; they create a rich academic environment that fosters intellectual exchange among graduate students. It is the longest-running consecutive graduate symposium in North America.