The Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts (IDSVA) invites creatives from all backgrounds to apply for this four-day summer program in Venice.
Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts (IDSVA)
February 10, 2026
— 2 min read
IDSVA students at Venice Biennale (2024) (photo by Christopher Andrew)
The Biennale Certificate in Philosophy and Art: Seeds of the Future is a four-day advanced certificate program designed by the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts (IDSVA) and philosopher Giovanbattista Tusa (Visiting Faculty, Independent Study and Dissertation director) for curators, artists, researchers, and cultural practitioners seeking to engage with the living context of the Venice Biennale. Over four days, participants will move through a sequence of philosophical orientations — Rooting, Growing, Branching, and Cultivating Futures — that frame art as a mode of world-disclosure and situated intervention. The program integrates theoretical reflection, embodied experience, and collaborative experimentation within and beyond the artworks and events of the Biennale.
Program Structure
- Day 1 — RootingThe program begins with a philosophical suspension. Before asking what art does, participants ask how art becomes thinkable at all. The Biennale is encountered not as a collection of works but as a field of situated propositions, entangled with histories of exclusion, authority, and epistemic forces.
- Day 2 — Growing (with guest curator)The second day turns toward knowledge and interpretation. With an invited curator, the Biennale emerges as an epistemic landscape where regimes of truth coexist, collide, and fracture.
- Day 3 — Branching (self-study)Participants independently visit the Biennale pavilions. The pavilion is considered as a temporal construction. Attention is directed toward moments where artworks exceed the present, gesturing toward what is not yet visible, legible, or possible.
- Day 4 — Cultivating Futures (with guest art theorist and/or artist)The final day centers on futurity as a philosophical condition. A guided visit to a Venice pavilion with an artist or theorist becomes a laboratory for thinking about how art is considered primarily as a temporal gesture that intervenes in the present while binding itself to unknown futures.
Certification & Deliverables
Participants who complete the full 25-hour program (guided sessions and self-study) and submit a 1,000-word reflective statement will receive an Advanced Certificate in Philosophy and Art.
Program Fee
$1800, including tuition instruction, Biennale pass, and the certificate award. Participants are responsible for their own travel, accommodation, and stay in Venice.
Application Guidelines
Applicants are asked to submit the following materials by March 15, 2026, to [email protected]:
- A short statement outlining their practice and their interest in the seminar (up to 300 words)
- A brief biography (up to 150 words) and CV or resume
- (Optional) Up to two links or examples of recent work
To learn more, contact [email protected].
