Established in 1997, the MODA program is founded on the conviction that art historians and critics engaged with modern and contemporary art need to understand curatorial strategies that reflect the interrelationship between new mediums and modes of artistic practice, as well as changing institutional and exhibition practices and forms. Similarly, curators need to embark upon the research, organization, and mounting of exhibitions with an extensive knowledge of critical theory and art history. MODA consequently offers a rigorous, scholarly, and expansive program of study, combining an intellectual foundation in modern and contemporary art and theory with exposure to the broader professional art world.Students take advantage of the full range of expertise of the distinguished faculty in Columbia's Department of Art History and Archaeology and in the university at large, while benefitting from specific programs crafted uniquely for MODA. The course of study enables each student to develop a unique, interdisciplinary curriculum based upon individual interests and goals. At the core of the program are the first year MA Critical and Curatorial Colloquia. The Critical Colloquium is taken in the first term of study. It involves a reading and analysis of texts by major theorists and critics, an introduction to art history's different interpretive methods and models, and an examination of different models of critical writing. The Curatorial Colloquium is taken in the second semester of study. It introduces students to the history, theory and practice of exhibitions, the histories of curating, and recent models of the curatorial, as well as case studies on historical exhibitions.