This April 27 through May 7, the OSUN Center for Human Rights and the Arts at Bard College (CHRA) presents ten capstone projects of its inaugural class of the MA Program in Human Rights and the Arts. Each of these projects is based on original research by a graduating student, carried out during their second year in the program. Projects range in research methods and subject matter, taking the form of an installation, a live performance, a written work, or some combination thereof.
The thesis exhibition highlights a core component of CHRA’s graduate program, which empowers students to develop a topic at the intersection of human rights and the arts, making both methodological and analytic interventions into this newly emerging field. Some of these projects were developed from research conducted within courses in the MA program. Others build on research and artistic practices carried out before and/or in parallel with the student’s enrollment in the program.
“The thesis projects exhibited are a testament to the rigorous research, dynamic understanding of the intersection between human rights and the arts, and diversity of forms that are at the hearth of our program,” said Ziad Abu-Rish, Director of the MA Program at the OSUN Center for Human Rights and the Arts at Bard College. Tania El Khoury, Director of the OSUN Center for Human Rights and the Arts at Bard College, added, “The graduating students’ thesis projects contribute critical knowledge on important topics and are being shared in this exhibition in creative, innovative, and accessible ways.”
The MA Thesis Exhibition will open to the public on Thursday April 27 and run through Sunday May 7. The exhibition takes place in locations across the Bard College Annandale campus as well as in Tivoli and Barrytown. Installations are available for viewing everyday (see below for details) of the exhibition, whereas live performances are more selectively scheduled.
Click here for a complete schedule of the exhibition, including a reading room, installations, and live performances.
Exhibition Credits: The MA Thesis Exhibition features capstone projects that are part of the requirements for the MA degree in Human Rights and the Arts and are developed within the context of the two-semester thesis course sequence. They are made possible with the support of the OSUN Center for Human Rights & the Arts, which is funded by the Open Society Foundation. Additional support was given to select projects as indicated in the project abstracts.