THANK YOU for celebrating the IDSVA Commencement with us!

Dear Friends,

On May 3rd we celebrated IDSVA’s 13th Commencement and the fourteen graduates receiving their PhDs in Art Theory, Philosophy, and Aesthetics. Their dissertations show how the most diverse and original ideas can take root and blossom into new knowledge. We were also happy to confer the Ted Coons Dissertation Prize to Dr. Adam Montoya, in recognition of his dissertation On Phantom Country: The Crypt Æsthetics of a Wilder West, directed by Dr. Dejan Lukic.

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2026 PhD Dissertation Titles and Descriptions

We celebrated our honorary degree recipient, Dr. Sarah E. Lewis (the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and Associate Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University), who shared in a memorable address, “Art and Truth,” her groundbreaking insights about how images have such a powerful impact on social justice. Our speaker was introduced by Dr. Deborah Willis, a former member of the Board of Directors and a big champion of Dr. Lewis.

Sarah Lewis's interview with Zindzi Harley, 2024 Driskell Fellow

A graduation ceremony is also an occasion to honor our governing and academic leaders, to give thanks to those who served and to welcome new members into our midst. Under Chair Paul Armstrong’s leadership, four new Board members joined IDSVA in the last few months - Nandita Baxi Sheth, Adam Wilson, Mike Hogan, and Eric Snyder. It was also my pleasure to announce our future Director of School, Dr. Gabriel Reed, succeeding Dr. Silvia Mazzini later this summer. Silvia Mazzini will remain a beloved member of our core faculty, teaching online seminars and in-person residencies, while pursuing her work in theatre and philosophy.

Thanks to each one of them for supporting our mission to educate the next generations of artist-philosophers in envisioning and reimagining a better future for the world we share.

Prior to the Commencement, The IDSVA Alumni Association organized a symposium and exhibition at Held Line Projects/Gallery MC in Manhattan titled The Artist-Philosopher in Practice, which was a jubilant celebration of the creative talents of many of our alumni and students. Many thanks to Dr. Kate Farrington, President of the IDSVA Alumni Association, and to the organizers for pulling it all together beautifully.

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the founding of IDSVA, which will span an entire year, in honor of the first class that was launched in 2007. When Dr. George Smith founded the school in 2006, he created something unprecedented: a place where artists could develop theoretical ideas at the highest level - where they could not only be part of a conversation with other thinkers, philosophers, scientists, and artists, but they could also shape that conversation in original directions, and in so doing, change the way we see the world.

We are looking forward to continuing our celebrations throughout the next months with a series of online webinars and lectures. More to be announced soon!

I’d like to close by giving special thanks to the IDSVA staff, faculty, students, graduates and their family and friends who traveled from many different parts of the world to support each other in the spirit of a generous and joyful be-coming community. It’s been a privilege to be in your company.

Cheers to the Class of 2026!

Simonetta Moro, President

Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts

Gallery of Photos from Commencement

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