This month marks the beginning of thesis exhibitions at SVA, a wealth of talent on display, plus much more.
March ushers in more than just springtime; it signals the true start of annual thesis exhibitions and presentations at SVA. More than a dozen degree and student programs and offices will present shows and events this month, emphasizing mental health, community building, connection, advertising and game design, human rights and more. The College’s many lecture series will draw in major names from the worlds of photography, curation, advertising, and filmmaking.
EXHIBITIONS
SVA Student Health and Counseling Services presents “Doing and Making Are Acts of Hope,” the annual HOPE Art Competition exhibition of artwork created by SVA students. The artworks by 13 finalists selected from 53 submissions reflect upon artist, designer, educator, and social justice advocate Corita Kent’s words: “Doing and making are acts of hope. And as that hope grows, we stop feeling overwhelmed by the world's troubles. We remember that individuals and groups can do something about those troubles.” Students were asked to create art that embodied the spirit of the quote and illustrated the power of self-expression to facilitate and foster hope.
Through Tuesday, March 11 | “Seeing Beyond Maps” | SVA Gramercy Gallery
MFA Design for Social Innovation presents “Seeing Beyond Maps,” an exhibition that challenges conventional cartography through maps of sounds, objects, cultures, and communities and that sparks a dialogue about how maps can be fluid, multidimensional, and deeply human. Each map aims to unravel a different facet of society—questioning access to public space and challenging urban ecology decisions, revealing social dynamics, celebrating the vibrant strengths of neighborhoods and more.
Tuesday, March 11 – Saturday, March 22 | “Mentors 2025” | SVA Chelsea Gallery
An exhibition of work by BFA Photography and Video students inspired by their working relationships with world-renowned artists, curators, editors, and directors from the global arts community, curated by department Chair Joseph Maida. Established in 1992, the Mentors program pairs fourth-year students with key figures in the arts community, giving them professional insight into their work during a culminating point in their education.
Elizaveta Simonova, Together at Dinnertime, 2025, 40 x 27 inches, digital print. On view at “Doing and Making Are Acts of Hope.”
Elizaveta Simonova, Together at Dinnertime, 2025, 40 x 27 inches, digital print. On view at “Doing and Making Are Acts of Hope.”
Through Thursday, March 13 | “space” | SVA Flatiron Gallery
An exhibition of multimedia artworks by 21 MPS Art Therapy students with collaborators from their internship sites and communities, “space,” is curated by Elizabeth DelliCarpini, department internship coordinator and program faculty member. Works included in “space” reflect the artists’ ambition to negotiate intrapersonal, interpersonal, and physical space through art. This community art therapy practice calls for participants to open and occupy space by examining their positionality. The therapeutic goal of “space” is to build common ground within a collective community.
Through Sunday, March 16 | “Greetings from Pandemic Island” | SVA Flatiron Project Space
BFA Visual and Critical Studies presents “Greetings from Pandemic Island,” an exhibition of pigment prints on acrylic, digital prints on paper, and projections by BFA Illustration chair Viktor Koen (MFA 1992 Illustration as Visual Essay), curated by Manolis Moresopoulos, artistic director of the Athens Photo Festival, and initially conceived as a set of postcards, “Greetings from Pandemic Island” evolved into a pictorial bridge between the 1918–19 influenza and COVID-19 pandemics. Spanning a turbulent century, the series documents the brutal realities of such crises by questioning issues of personal and collective responsibility, humanity, and gross indifference but also highlights an intricate web of long-existing layers of racial and socioeconomic disparities catalyzed by the epidemic.
SVA Academic Affairs and the Office of the Provost present “TO LOVE–TO DIE; TO FIGHT. TO LIVE. Art and Activism in the Time of AIDS,” an exhibition honoring all forms of art-based activism amid the AIDS crisis, 40 years after the idea for the iconic AIDS Quilt was conceived. Organized by alumnus and SVA Academic Affairs operations manager Michael Severance (BFA 2011 Fine Arts, MFA 2013 Art Practice) in collaboration with the New York City AIDS Memorial, “TO LOVE–TO DIE; TO FIGHT. TO LIVE. Art and Activism in the Time of AIDS” honors those who fought hard for their survival, dignity, and respect in a time when activism and art collided into spectacular actions.
A promotional poster for “Seeing Beyond Maps.”
A promotional poster for “Seeing Beyond Maps.”
Thursday, March 20 – Saturday, April 5 | “WITNESS” | SVA Flatiron Project Space
BFA Visual and Critical Studies presents “WITNESS,” an exhibition by former and current members of the School of Visual Arts community—alumni, faculty, and staff—who have addressed or continue to address the impact of HIV/AIDS in their work, in their lives and our shared history. It also includes work by four SVA colleagues who were lost to the virus, which, in its early years, was quickly called “The Plague.” To witness a plague is to be irrevocably changed, as we were recently again made aware. The statements and artworks presented remind us of our strength and our sorrow, our fears, our loss, our anger, and our hope. “WITNESS” is part of “TO LOVE—TO DIE; TO FIGHT. TO LIVE. Art and Activism in the Time of AIDS”—a series of SVA lectures, screenings, and exhibitions.
Monday, March 24 – Tuesday, April 29 | “Début 25” | SVA Gramercy Gallery
The annual exhibition of multidisciplinary work by BFA Design and BFA Advertising students. Guests can peruse over 200 cutting-edge student projects from the 2024–2025 school year in a magically transformed gallery space. This year’s spring salon displays the breadth of the department’s offerings, from branding, motion graphics, and augmented reality to interaction and traditional and emerging advertising. Thanks to a suite of interactive displays, visitors will be immersed in the game design world and test their skills with complex digital levels created by students in the Godot game engine. The exhibition also features three-dimensional design work, including creations from the new Wilde Lab fabrication space, one-of-a-kind guitars from the 3D Design students, packaging prototypes, zines, books, and more.
EVENTS
Monday, March 10, 6:00 – 8:30pm | TEDx SVA Women: The Intersection of Art and Gender | Online
The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion presents a series of TEDx SVA Women talks in honor of Women’s History Month. Six members of the SVA community will give talks on “The Intersection of Art & Gender.” Topics include women’s representation in the arts, power dynamics within creative industries, and other issues related to women and fine art, animation, film, and more.
Tuesday, March 11, 3:00 – 5:00pm | Mark Dorf | 133/141 W 21st St., room 101C & online
As part of the Talks lecture series, MFA Fine Arts presents a talk by Mark Dorf, a New York-based artist working across photography, video, digital media, and sculpture. Working collaboratively with ecologists and technologists, Dorf’s work questions perceptions of what Western culture often calls “nature.” His images and objects examine how design, image culture, technology, and science shape expectations of the “natural” world while engaging deeply with the digital processes behind their production.
Tuesday, March 11, 7:00 – 8:30pm | i3 Photo Lecture: Steve Giralt | 136 W 21st St., room 418F MPS Digital Photography presents a talk with Steve Giralt, director, DP, photographer, founder, and the creative force behind the innovation-focused production company The Garage, part of the i3: Images, Ideas, Inspiration lecture series. Giralt’s visionary approach to image-making is a symphony of leveraging cutting-edge tools and boundless imagination. From motion-control robotics and virtual production to Phantom slow-motion cameras, his repertoire is as diverse as it is revolutionary. At the heart of his work lies a commitment to storytelling, weaving narratives that resonate deeply with audiences worldwide. He is driven by a perpetual quest for knowledge fuelled by an unquenchable thirst for visual innovation and creative exploration.
Wednesday, March 12, 9:00 – 10:00am | The Curatorial Roundtable: Nick Aikens (Gothenburg) | Online
MA Curatorial Practice presents a talk with curator, researcher, editor, and educator Nick Aikens. Aikens is the managing editor of L’Internationale Online. He assumed his role in 2023 as part of the four-year, EU-funded project Museum of the Commons. He previously served as curator at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, a tutor and course leader at the Dutch Art Institute in Arnhem, and a guest professor in the Department of Exhibitions and Scenography at Karlsruhe University.
MPS Digital Photography presents an artist talk with Viktor Koen, chair of BFA Comics and BFA Illustration, in conjunction with an exhibition of the same title at the SVA Flatiron Project Space.
A promotional poster for “TEDx SVA Women: The Intersection of Art and Gender.”
A promotional poster for “TEDx SVA Women: The Intersection of Art and Gender.”
Monday, March 17, 5:30 – 7:30pm | Speaker Series: Chloé Desaulles | 136 W 21st St., 7th floor MFA Products of Design presents a talk with Chloé Desaulles, a New York City-based, Alsatian-raised creative director, researcher and new media artist. Her practice specializes in storytelling innovation, research and development, and interactive design for emerging technologies.
Tuesday, March 18, 3:00 – 5:00pm | Karyn Olivier |133/141 W 21st St., room 101C
MFA Fine Arts presents a talk by award-winning and widely exhibited Trinidad and Tobago-born artist Karyn Olivier, part of the Talks lecture series. Oliver creates sculptures, installations, and public art, including the soon-to-be-unveiled Philadelphia memorial commemorating over 5,000 African Americans buried at Bethel Burying Ground. This year, Olivier was chosen for the commission to create a public installation in downtown Milwaukee, memorializing Vel R. Phillips, the late politician, attorney, judge, and civil rights activist, to be unveiled in 2026.
Wednesday, March 19, 9:00 – 10:00am | The Curatorial Roundtable: Zeynep Öz (Sharjah) | Online
In this session of the Curatorial Roundtable, curator and writer Zeynep Öz will discuss Produce 3 (Domates Biber Patlıcan 3), the third edition of a bi-annual presentation of the commissioning platform that ran in Istanbul from 2012 to 2016 as well as the project Öz curated as part of the upcoming Sharjah Biennial 13, titled YAZ, which uses and iterates on the format of the Produce series.
MFA Computer Arts presents its spring open studios event, bringing together multidisciplinary projects from students. The creative work encompasses various media, including immersive installation, animation, design, and interactivity. “Art and technology have always been fantastic partners in creativity, and our latest student works offer some great examples of that intersection,” states department chair Terrence Masson.
Meet artists from around the world who are pursuing an MFA in Fine Arts at the School of Visual Arts through the department’s spring 2025 open studios event, a reflection of the diversity of New York’s art world with 64 students working in a wide range of mediums across various disciplines.
Viktor Koen (MFA 1992 Illustration as Visual Essay), Rorschach, 2022, digital print on paper. On view at “Greetings from Pandemic Island.”
Viktor Koen (MFA 1992 Illustration as Visual Essay), Rorschach, 2022, digital print on paper. On view at “Greetings from Pandemic Island.”
Tuesday, March 25, 3:00pm | Michelle Grabner | 133/141 W 21st St., room 101C
MFA Fine Arts presents a talk by midwest-based artist, writer, and curator Michelle Grabner, part of the Talks lecture series. She is the Crown Family Professor of Art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she has taught since 1996. Grabner is a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, a 2018 National Academician in the National Academy of Design, a 2024 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters Fellow, and a 2025 Nohl Fellow.
Tuesday, March 25, 7:00 – 8:30pm | i3 Photo Lecture: Diane Allford | 136 W 21st St., room 418F MPS Digital Photography presents a talk with fashion photographer Diane Allford, part of the i3: Images, Ideas, Inspiration lecture series. Allford, who shoots editorial and commercial imagery for marketing, eCommerce, and advertising, is a founding member of The Luupe and is represented by Cake-factory Studios in New York City.
MA Curatorial Practice presents a talk with Kjersti Solbakken, a curator, writer, and institutional leader based in Bergen, Norway. Solbakken recently assumed the role of director at Bergen Kunsthall, a center for contemporary art presenting a vibrant program of exhibitions, events, and learning activities, established in 1839. She is the curator of Lofoten International Art Festival (LIAF) 2024, the longest-running art biennial in Scandinavia, presenting works by local and international artists in a location-conscious context.
In conjunction with “TO LOVE–TO DIE; TO FIGHT. TO LIVE. Art and Activism in the Time of AIDS,” an exhibition honoring all forms of art-based activism amid the AIDS crisis, 40 years after the idea for the iconic AIDS Quilt was conceived, SVA presents a weekend of quilt-making workshops honoring artists, designers, and other members of the creative community lost to the AIDS epidemic. The New York City AIDS Memorial organizes these workshops alongside artist Daniele Frazier with support provided by the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development and the National AIDS Memorial, San Francisco, with materials courtesy of Materials for the Arts, Todd Oldham Studio, the David Wojnarowicz Foundation, and Maharam.
BFA Visual and Critical Studies and the Honors Program present a talk with Award-winning journalist, author and filmmaker David France in conjunction with the exhibition “Staying Alive: Art and Activism in the Time of AIDS” on view at the SVA Flatiron Gallery and Project Space. France will speak on the achievements of AIDS activists in art and politics amid terrible necessities, as well as his Oscar-nominated and critically acclaimed documentary and subsequent book, How to Survive a Plague, about the early years of the AIDS epidemic.