IDSVA alumna, Dr. Keren Moscovitch, appointed Acting Chair at SVA
September 24, 2026
IDSVA alumna Dr. Keren Moscovitch has been appointed Acting Chair of the Humanities and Sciences Department at the School of Visual Arts (SVA), marking a new chapter in a career that brings together scholarship, artistic practice, teaching, and academic leadership.
Keren earned her PhD in Visual Arts: Philosophy, Aesthetics, and Art Theory at IDSVA in 2020. Her dissertation, Radical Intimacy in Contemporary Art: Abjection, Revolt, Objecthood, examined intimacy as a site of political and ideological disruption in contemporary art, drawing on psychoanalytic theory and feminist new materialism. The dissertation was awarded the Ted Coons Dissertation Prize and was later published by Bloomsbury Press in 2024.
Her path reflects something central to the IDSVA experience: philosophy does not stay confined to the dissertation or the seminar room. It carries into artistic practice, teaching, and leadership. For Keren, that idea took shape in part through time with IDSVA Visiting Faculty Howard Caygill, including an afternoon in a Berlin bookstore:
“We spent an hour browsing the philosophy section, and Howard pointed at every title and explained what that book was about. He reminisced about each book as if it were a journey he had taken, recounting his adventures with the author as if each were an old friend.”
What stayed with her was not simply Caygill’s knowledge, but his enthusiasm for philosophy as a living encounter.
“I hold this memory dear, and aspire to build that kind of dense relationship to philosophy, and to carry the torch forward to students who are just starting their own adventure. Art and philosophy are our human heritage, and we need to care for them, to continue bringing them forth.”
That commitment is visible throughout Keren’s career. At SVA, she has taught across Art History, BFA Photography and Video, and BFA Visual and Critical Studies, and previously served as Associate Director of the Division of Continuing Education, where she co-led curriculum serving thousands of students and led global arts initiatives. She also served on the steering committee for SVA’s most recent Middle States Self-Study. Keren holds an MFA from SVA and a BA from Georgetown University and is an associate editor for the International Journal of Education & the Arts.
Congratulations, Dr. Moscovitch!