Through the Museum Research Consortium (MRC), MoMA mentors the next generation of art historians and curators.
About
The Museum Research Consortium (MRC) is a partnership between The Museum of Modern Art and five regional graduate art history programs—Columbia University; The Graduate Center, City University of New York; the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University; Princeton University; and Yale University—funded through a major grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The MRC provides a framework for the Museum’s participation in the training and education of the next generation of art historians and curators.
The Museum Research Consortium hosts one MRC Fellow from each participating program annually to work with an experienced curator on scholarly curatorial projects at the Museum. The MRC also organizes semiannual Study Sessions around key holdings in MoMA’s collection. These sessions generate new approaches to and ideas about works in the collection by providing greater access to these objects for a community of art historians, while also developing strong ties across the Consortium community.
Director and Steering Committee
The Museum Research Consortium is led by Leah Dickerman, Director, Editorial and Content Strategy, and guided by a steering committee that also includes Peter Reed, Senior Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs, and representatives from the five partner programs:
Columbia University
Branden Joseph, the Frank Gallipolli Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art and Director of Art Humanities
The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Emily Braun, Distinguished Professor of Twentieth-Century European and American Art
Institute of Fine Arts, New York University
Thomas E. Crow, the Rosalie Solow Professor of Modern Art and Associate Provost of the Arts at NYU
Princeton University
Hal Foster, the Townsend Martin Class of 1917 Professor of Art and Archaeology
Yale University
Kobena Mercer, Professor, History of Art and African American Studies
Fellows
The MRC Fellows program is at the core of the Museum Research Consortium initiative. As part of the program, one PhD candidate from each of the five partner institutions is awarded a fellowship, and each is assigned to work full-time with a MoMA curator on a scholarly curatorial project. In addition to gaining hands-on experience in museum practice and receiving mentoring from established curators, fellows also benefit from professional development programs, as well as opportunities to network with colleagues in other Consortium-member graduate programs.
2018–19 MRC Fellows
The 2018-19 MRC Fellows are Barbora Bartunkova, Erica DiBenedetto, Michaëla de Lacaze, Charlotte Healy, and Kaegan Sparks.
Barbora Bartunkova is a PhD candidate at Yale University. Barbora is based in the Department of Drawings and Prints during her year as a fellow, and is working with senior curator Jodi Hauptman.
Erica DiBenedetto is a PhD candidate at Princeton University. Erica is working with Michelle Kuo, The Marlene Hess Curator of Painting and Sculpture.
Charlotte Healy is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Charlotte is working with Anne Umland, The Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture.
Michaëla de Lacaze is a PhD candidate at Columbia University. Michaëla is working with curator Inés Katzenstein, Director of the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Research Institute for the Study of Art from Latin America, and Curator of Latin American Art, in the Department of Drawings and Prints.
Kaegan Sparks is a PhD candidate at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Kaegan is based in the Department of Media and Performance Art, and is working with the department’s chief curator, Stuart Comer.
2017–18 MRC Fellows
The 2017-18 MRC Fellows were Julia Bozer (IFA/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture), Erica Cooke (Princeton/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture), Vivian Crockett (Columbia/Fellow in Media and Performance Art), Liz Donato (Graduate Center/Fellow in Photography), and Theodossis Issaias (Yale/Fellow in Architecture and Design).
2016–17 MRC Fellows
2016-17 MRC Fellows were Jessica Bell Brown (Princeton/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture), Elizabeth Gollnick (Columbia/Fellow in Media and Performance Art), Ashley James (Yale/Fellow in Drawings and Prints), Abigail Lapin Dardashti (Graduate Center/Fellow in Photography), and Matthew Worsnick (IFA/Fellow in Architecture and Design).
2015–16 MRC Fellows
The 2015–16 MRC Fellows were Swagato Chakravorty (Yale/Fellow in Media and Performance Art), Natalie Dupêcher (Princeton/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture), Elizabeth Hawley (Graduate Center/Fellow in Architecture and Design), Nomaduma Masilela (Columbia/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture), and Antonia Pocock (IFA/Fellow in Drawings and Prints).
2014–15 MRC Fellows
The 2014–15 MRC Fellows were Rebecca Lowery (IFA/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture), Kristin Poor (Princeton/Fellow in Photography), Lauren Rosati (Graduate Center/Fellow in Photography), Sam Sackeroff (Yale/Fellow in Drawings and Prints), and Rachel Silveri (Columbia/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture).
2013–14 MRC Fellows
The 2013–14 MRC Fellows were Andrew Cappetta (Graduate Center/Fellow in Drawings and Prints), Kirsty Dootson (Yale/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture), Frances Jacobus-Parker (Princeton/Fellow in Painting and Sculpture), Rachel Kaplan (IFA/Fellow in Photography), and Stephanie O’Rourke (Columbia/Fellow in Drawings and Prints).
Study Sessions
The MRC Study Sessions are incubators for new ideas and approaches to key holdings in the Museum’s collection. The sessions are a collaborative endeavor, intended to provide greater access to objects in the collection for a community of art historians, while also developing strong ties across the Consortium. Study session participants include MoMA curators and conservators, the current class of MRC Fellows, faculty members and graduate students from each of the five university partners, and invited guest scholars. The 2018 Study Sessions considered recent gifts from the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros of work from Latin America and the Caribbean. Previous sessions focused on work by Jean Dubuffet (2014), on Picasso’s sculpture (2015), on work by African American artists (2016), and on MoMA’s history of collecting and exhibiting performance and performance-based work (2017).
Participating in the MRC
The MRC Fellows and the Study Sessions programs aim to build a broad research community between MoMA and academic colleagues. Participation in the MRC is open to doctoral students in the Consortium partner programs.
The MRC Fellows program offers an annual fellowship to one PhD candidate from each of the five partner institutions. While the program does not support dissertation or independent research, it does provide a structure for participating in scholarly research projects within the Museum with mentoring from an experienced curator. Students interested in either academic or museum careers are welcome to apply. Each partner program coordinates the nomination process for its own proposed candidates for the fellowship. The nomination period for 2018-19 Fellows is closed, but you can view the call for applications.
The Study Sessions are a collaborative endeavor, and include MoMA curators and conservators, the current class of MRC Fellows, faculty members and graduate students from each of the five university partners, and guest scholars. Each partner program nominates three graduate student participants for the sessions. Interested individuals should contact their departments for more information about applying for either the Fellows or the Study Sessions programs.
Dossiers
The MRC Dossiers are a series of digital publications growing out of the Study Sessions that feature the research produced by the MRC Fellows and the graduate student participants as part of the sessions.
MRC Dossier 1: The Work of Jean Dubuffet
With texts by Rachel Boate (Institute of Fine Arts, New York University), Maibritt Borgen (Yale University), Tom Campbell (Columbia University), Andrew Cappetta (2013–14 MRC Fellow/The Graduate Center, City University of New York), Erica DiBenedetto (Princeton University), Kirsty Dootson (2013–14 MRC Fellow/Yale), Beth Gollnick (Columbia), Christopher Green (Graduate Center), Charlotte Healy (Institute of Fine Arts), Niels Henriksen (Princeton), Frances Jacobus-Parker (2013–14 MRC Fellow/Princeton), Rachel Kaplan (2013–14 MRC Fellow/Institute of Fine Arts), Christina McCollum (Graduate Center), Stephanie O’Rourke (2013–14 MRC Fellow/Columbia), Jonathan Patkowski (Graduate Center), AnnMarie Perl (Institute of Fine Arts), Daniel Spaulding (Yale), Phil Taylor (Princeton), and Matthew Teti (Columbia)
MRC Dossier 2: Picasso’s Sculpture
With texts by Julia Bozer (Institute of Fine Arts, New York University), Benjamin Clifford (Institute of Fine Arts), Nicole Demby (Yale University), Natalie Dupêcher (Princeton University), Courtney Fiske (Columbia University), Matilde Guidelli-Guidi (The Graduate Center, City University of New York), Joseph Henry (Graduate Center), Lucy Hunter (Yale), Marci Kwon (Institute of Fine Arts), Ashley Lazevnick (Princeton), Rebecca Lowery (2014–15 MRC Fellow/Institute of Fine Arts), Leah Pires (Columbia), Kristin Poor (2014–15 MRC Fellow/Princeton), Amy Raffel (Graduate Center), Lauren Rosati (2014–15 MRC Fellow/Graduate Center), Sam Sackeroff (2014–15 MRC Fellow/Yale), Rachel Silveri (2014–15 MRC Fellow/Columbia), Alex Weintraub (Columbia), Caitlin Woolsey (Yale), and Hannah Yohalem (Princeton)
MRC Dossier 3: Race and the Museum**
With texts by Caitlin Beach (Columbia University), Jessica Bell Brown (Princeton University), Swagato Chakravorty (2015–16 MRC Fellow/Yale University), Natalie Dupêcher (2015–16 MRC Fellow/Princeton), Yasmine Espert (Columbia University), Linda Green (Institute of Fine Arts), Maya Harakawa (The Graduate Center, City University of New York), Elizabeth Hawley (2015–16 MRC Fellow/Graduate Center), Ashley James (Yale), Perrin Lathrop (Princeton), Debra Lennard (Graduate Center), Nomaduma Masilela (2015–16 MRC Fellow/Columbia), Desiree Mitton (Institute of Fine Arts), Sasha Nicholas (Graduate Center), Antonia Pocock (2015–16 MRC Fellow/Institute of Fine Arts), Abbe Schriber (Columbia), Claire Schwartz (Yale), Kimia Shahi (Princeton), Juanita Solano (Institute of Fine Arts), and Jenny Tang (Yale)