“Learning Here at Lang Is a Very Reciprocal Process”
Arts major Emmanuel found a new way to view identity in the world—and claim his role as a social commentator.
Admission Contact
Office of Admission
Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts
79 Fifth Avenue, 5th floor
New York, NY 10003
Phone: 212.229.5150 or
800.292.3040
lang@newschool.edu
Prospective students with questions about the Visual Studies program can email langarts@newschool.edu.
Program Director and Departmental Faculty Advisor
Kenneth White
Assistant Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History and Visual Studies
whiteka@newschool.edu
Student Success Advisor for The Arts
Brian Dudley
Manager, BA/BFA Student Success
dudleyb@newschool.edu
Students in the Adult Bachelor's Program should see their core faculty advisor.
Explore the power of images across histories and cultures through Lang's Visual Studies concentration within The Arts major. Establish a foundation in visual culture, ranging from masterpieces in world-class museums to contemporary multimedia installations and experimental performances to the constant stream of pictures and videos in popular culture and media.
As a Lang Visual Studies student, you examine collections held by museums, libraries, and archives at The New School and across New York City; explore experimental film, video, performance, and multimedia works; and engage with the stream of pictures and videos in popular culture and media.
By learning to analyze images, artworks, cultural artifacts, and media practices, you gain deep insight into broader issues such as history and ideology, class, race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, science and technology, the global political economy, and the environment. In addition to studying the theory, practice, and culture of seeing in rigorous academic seminars, you also gain valuable knowledge about artworks and institutions through courses in curatorial and museum studies. Students pursuing the concentration combine the study of visual arts with the study of a liberal arts discipline.
While it offers the atmosphere and intimacy of a small college, Eugene Lang College is part of The New School, a major progressive university in New York City. The city and its many artistic and cultural organizations is a key resource for the Visual Studies curriculum. Classes include field trips to collections of museums, libraries, and archives, and to exhibitions, screenings, performances, lectures, and studio visits. The curriculum also addresses the city's architecture, public spaces, and infrastructure. Students also have the opportunity to work directly with a variety of cultural organizations via assignments or internships.
Visual Arts students go on to pursue advanced studies in anthropology, art history, film and media studies, gender studies, museum studies, and race and ethnicity studies and also become arts administrators, curators, gallery or museum staff, journalists, publishers, and practicing artists. Consult our 4-Year Lang Career Pathways Map (PDF) for helpful steps and resources to link your academic journey to your future plans.
If you are planning to pursue graduate studies, consider applying to the Bachelor's-Master's program, which enables you to earn graduate credits that apply to both your Lang degree and a master's degree in liberal studies at The New School.
Arts major Emmanuel found a new way to view identity in the world—and claim his role as a social commentator.
"I took a class called 'How to Grow a Small Business,' and the pitch that I created in that class is what I do now. It'sCierra Britton Gallery."
The class hosted a talk with curator Silvia Rocciolo and artist Emily Clayton about the political history of the murals by José Clemente Orozco and a grant-funded preservation project to restore them.
The New School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.