Visual Studies encourages the interpretation of artifacts (canonical or otherwise) in light of the political and social mechanisms of vision and visuality. Our students explore an array of objects and visual experiences produced in a variety of media, including digital technologies, photography, film, painting, exhibition histories, television, performance, sculpture, video, sound, architecture, and popular culture.

The interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Visual Studies is offered jointly by the departments of Art History and Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Irvine. Our curriculum integrates methodological and theoretical insights from the two constituent disciplines, as well as the related fields of history, critical theory, new media studies, race theory, feminism, global studies, postcolonial theory, queer theory, and cultural studies.

The Ph.D. Program in Visual Studies is part of the School of Humanities at UC Irvine, and our students are able to take advantage of distinguished faculty and programs throughout the school. In particular, many choose to supplement their degrees in Visual Studies with a graduate certificates in Critical Theory, Chicano/Latino Studies , Asian American Studies, and Feminist Studies. UC Irvine is home to the University of California’s Humanities Research Institute, which sponsors important lectures and conferences, encouraging dialogue among the disciplines throughout the academy.

Located in southern California, students at UC Irvine take advantage of the many significant cultural and research institutions located in the area, including the Getty Center, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Huntington Library and Gardens, the Paley Center for Media, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Orange County Museum of Art, the Hammer Museum, the Norton Simon Museum, and the UCLA Film and Television Archive.