Wednesday, August 4 – Friday, September 10 | “Correspondence: The Installation” | SVA Flatiron Project Space, 133/141 West 21st Street

Born from the acclaimed art series “To Be Free,” artist, activist and SVA faculty member Sophia Dawson’s (BFA 2010 Fine Arts) Correspondence (Maria Editions, 2021) is a collection of letters and ephemera from Dawson’s correspondences with jailed members of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Movement. The “To Be Free” series explores, through portraiture, the stories of the 20-plus remaining incarcerated activists from the Black liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s. The project utilizes art to call attention to their continued imprisonment and to advocate for their freedom. Presented by BFA Visual & Critical Studies and The Bishop Gallery.

Thursday, August 5, 2:00 – 5:00pm | Repositioning Culture: Protection

The MPS Branding class of 2021 will present their thesis projects live on YouTube Premieres. As vaccinations begin to offer glimpses of a post-COVID world, this year’s class directed its theses towards a general theme of “protection.” Five teams of students investigated “protection” through the lens of the United States Department of Agriculture, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the United States Space Force and cryptocurrency. The class of 2021 has sought to critically reflect on the past year and reimagine ways to protect our collective future.

Friday, August 6 – Sunday, September 26 | “And Then ... 2021”

MFA Visual Narrative presents an exhibition of work by its class of 2021.

Through Monday, August 9 | “Partitions”

A juried exhibition of multidisciplinary works by one SVA student and six recent graduates. Artists in this exhibition consider the human consequences of barriers, boundaries and thresholds, acknowledging the drastic restructuring of lives and spaces over the past 18 months. Through paintings, drawings, photographs, video and design, these works respond to omnipresent partitions while illustrating the importance of connection, shared experiences and what happens when vital social and cultural bonds are interrupted or cease to exist.

Wednesday, August 18 – Friday, September 17 | MFA Visual Narrative Open Studios

This open-studios show represents the culmination of the intensive summer semester at SVA’s MFA Visual Narrative program. This daring body of work by first- and second-year students explores how narrative paths can be created across the spectrum of genre and media. Through a broad range of new-media techniques—from live-action video to storyboards to visual mapping, animation, game design and sequential art—these students share the common goal of exposing their truths through narrative design.

Friday, August 27, and Saturday, August 28 | SVA MFACA Fest: Celebrating the MFA Computer Arts Classes of 2020 and 2021 | SVA Theatre, 333 West 23rd Street

Join MFA Computer Arts in celebrating its classes of 2020 and 2021 in-person at this special screening of all thesis projects produced in the last two years. On Friday, August 27, see projects from the class of 2020, and on Saturday, August 28, 12:00 – 3:00pm, see projects from the class of 2021.