Fields of the Future Institute

The Fields of the Future Institute (FFI) is a new initiative at Bard Graduate Center that expands the sources, practices, perspectives, and audiences of interdisciplinary humanities scholarship. It explores how our intellectual landscape should change by posing new questions, suggesting new ways to answer old questions, and bringing new voices into the scholarly conversation. FFI explicitly aims to bring more Black, Indigenous, and people of color into the fields of decorative arts, design history, and material culture and to elevate their voices through fellowship opportunities, a podcast, and a fund to support student and alumni projects that reflect the values of the FFI. In addition, FFI expands BGC’s focus to include summer programs for undergraduate students that offer early career scholars access to graduate-level resources and provide opportunities to gain skills in the public humanities.

Summer School Collaboration with the Alliance of Museums and Galleries of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities

In summer 2021, Bard Graduate Center welcomed twelve students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) for a week-long intensive seminar held on Zoom. This was one of several summer programs organized by the Alliance of Museums and Galleries of HBCUs; others were hosted by the University of Delaware / Winterthur Museum, Yale University, and Princeton University. The course, “Research and Conservation in the Human Sciences,” introduced these students to the role and meaning of humanities-based research. It focused on conservation as a key research tool for working with material culture, integrating research into artistic practices, and research developed in tandem with collecting institutions like the library, archive, and museum. The program introduced students interested in art history, theory, and practice to a range of professional applications for these interests, including graduate-level research. This program will take place every two years.

Summer School for Advanced Undergraduates

Bard Graduate Center launched its Undergraduate Summer School in Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture in 2021. Open to advanced undergraduates and recent college graduates, the program draws on resources at BGC and around New York City to provide an intensive, two-week program on material culture studies.

Machine-embroidered lace embellished with rhinestones. Made in Austria. Tailored to a Nigerian context. Worn in the US. Early 2000s, with additions made in 2021. Synthetic fiber (?), cotton, plastic, and glass. Courtesy of the Solarin sisters and the Adeogun family. Photo by Da Ping Luo.

BGC Study Trip. Photo Courtesy of Caspar Meyer.

The topic for 2021 and 2022 was “Re-Dress and Re-Form: Innovations in the History of Fashion and Design, 1850 to Today.” The course introduced students to the history of design and fashion in the United States and Europe from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, with a focus on how conceptions of race, gender, and class have shaped the world of goods as we know it. Led by faculty members Michele Majer and Freyja Hartzell in 2021 and by Hartzell and PhD candidate Pierre-Jean Desemerie in 2022, the summer school combined small seminars and behind-the-scenes access to collections. Thirteen students from around the country participated in 2021; twelve students participated in 2022.

Fields of the Future Fellows

In fall 2019, Bard Graduate Center reconceived its research fellowship program to promote work that reflected the values of the FFI. The Fields of the Future fellowships support scholars exploring and expanding the sources, techniques, voices, perspectives, and questions of interdisciplinary humanities scholarship. Fellows receive a monthly stipend, housing in New York City, and a workspace in BGC’s Research Center for a semester. See the list of fellows on page 85.

Fields of the Future Fund for BGC Students and Alumni

Bard Graduate Center established the Fields of the Future Fund for BGC Students and Alumni in fall 2020. This fund provides financial support for students and alums pursuing projects that bring new voices and narratives into the study of decorative arts, design history, and material culture. In spring 2021, MA student mary adeogun

received support from the Fund for a multimedia project that explored two textiles linked to four sisters, all of Yoruba heritage. Combining photography, video, and brief interviews with each individual, the project tells a story about the sisters’ collaboration and shows the liveliness of their textiles and garments. The Fields of the Future grant helped cover expenses associated with the project’s production, such as renting high-quality camera and audio equipment and hiring a small team. The interviews, photography, and video were created in the summer of 2021. Post-production and editing took place in the fall of 2021. Portions of this project were shared privately with advisors at Bard Graduate Center and with the sisters. In spring 2022, the fund made awards to MA alumna Rachael Schwabe for a project entitled “Crafting Empathy” and to PhD student Kate Sekules for her project, “Repair.”

Fields of the Future Podcast

BGC’s Fields of the Future podcast was conceived to amplify the voices and highlight the work of scholars, artists, and writers injecting new narratives into object-centered thinking. It launched in fall 2021 with a nine-episode season produced by BGC staff members Laura Minsky and Emily Reilly. Each episode brought a BGC fellow or faculty member into conversation with a scholar, artist, or writer of their choosing. Two additional seasons are in production and will be released in fall 2022. The first, produced by BGC alumnae Juliana Fagua Arias and Jessie Mordine Young, includes conversations with Indigenous textile artists and its release will coincide with the launch of the Shaped by the Loom: Weaving Worlds in the American Southwest online exhibition. The second, produced BGC alumna mary adeogun to accompany the exhibition Threads of Power: Lace from the Textilmuseum St. Gallen, considers lace in Nigerian culture through close examination of a few laces and includes conversations with historians, researchers, dressmakers, lace mills, and fashionistas.