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About MFA Index

MFA Index is an online platform started by a consortium of MFA programs to showcase the work of their graduates whose studies were impacted by COVID-19.

The founding MFA programs are:
ArtCenter Graduate Art Department
California Institute of the Arts
Columbia University School of the Arts
Otis College of Art and Design
UPenn Weitzman School of Design
UCLA Department of Art
UChicago Department of Visual Arts
Yale School of Art

If you are an MFA student at one of the above schools and would like to participate, contact your department administrator to request to be added.

The platform is also now open to additional MFA programs. If you would like your school to join, or have any questions, contact us using this form.


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Site by R&R Studio

MFA IndexNarendra HaynesLi Zeng

Zoe Penina Baker

Calling Home 2021 Green upholstery velvet, foam, batting, wood, nails, screws, staples, glue, string, pins, buttons approximately 15’ across and 6’ deep — The act of calling- naming a thing, a place, a person, a relationship. To name something, call it your own, suggests a sense of mutual responsibility towards a sense of purpose, comfort, calm, safety, sometimes love. Calling like a phone call- to hear the phone ring and wait, wait, hoping far away friends, family members, memories connect you on the other line. The couch acts as a present absence in the gallery, inviting participants to sit and consider their own relationships with the objects, furniture, and spaces that frame our individual and collective histories. Acting as a dream-like space, a familiar object in an exaggerated form, the couch acts as a vehicle for imagining and manifesting personal speculative futures, redefining our conceptions of family and community, and embracing ongoing change. In the (almost) aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the couch also acts as a space of healing and reconnecting. After a year spent with much of our time and interactions rooted in a frontal positioning towards a screen, the couch curls inward, hugging sitters and encouraging interpersonal interaction irl. A space for conversation, eye contact, physical feeling; the cushions, velvet, pleats, bodily warmth.

Calling Home
2021
Green upholstery velvet, foam, batting, wood, nails, screws, staples, glue, string, pins, buttons
approximately 15’ across and 6’ deep

The act of calling- naming a thing, a place, a person, a relationship. To name something, call it your own, suggests a sense of mutual responsibility towards a sense of purpose, comfort, calm, safety, sometimes love.

Calling like a phone call- to hear the phone ring and wait, wait, hoping far away friends, family members, memories connect you on the other line.

The couch acts as a present absence in the gallery, inviting participants to sit and consider their own relationships with the objects, furniture, and spaces that frame our individual and collective histories. Acting as a dream-like space, a familiar object in an exaggerated form, the couch acts as a vehicle for imagining and manifesting personal speculative futures, redefining our conceptions of family and community, and embracing ongoing change. In the (almost) aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the couch also acts as a space of healing and reconnecting. After a year spent with much of our time and interactions rooted in a frontal positioning towards a screen, the couch curls inward, hugging sitters and encouraging interpersonal interaction irl. A space for conversation, eye contact, physical feeling; the cushions, velvet, pleats, bodily warmth.

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