Nan Goldin is an artist and activist who lives and works in New York and Berlin. Her photography has been exhibited in museums around the world, and has been the subject of two major touring retrospectives—one organized in 1996 by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and another, in 2001, by the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, and the Centre Pompidou, Paris. She has published fifteen books, including The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (Aperture, 1986). In 2006, Goldin was awarded the French Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres. She received the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in 2007 and the red Award for outstanding work in the field of HIV/AIDS. In 2012, Goldin was awarded the Edward MacDowell Medal. She is the founder of P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), a group dedicated to combating the growing opioid epidemic in the US. Goldin is represented by the Marian Goodman gallery.

David Velasco (b. 1978, Portland) is the editor-in-chief of Artforum. His first issue, in January 2018, featured Nan Goldin’s inaugural action against the Sackler Family to hold them accountable for their role in the opioid crisis. He is also the editor of Modern Dance, a series of titles published by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, examining the work of choreographers who are transforming twentieth-century movement-based idioms. Based in New York, Velasco is currently at work on a novel about fathers.

Photo credit: Megan Kapler

The Graduate Art Seminar is a forum for graduate students and members of the ArtCenter community to enter into dialog with internationally recognized artists, critics, and art historians. The Seminar is a core component of ArtCenter's Graduate Art program. The Seminar is also free and open to the public.

ArtCenter's Graduate Art program is based on intensive studio practice and rigorous academic coursework. The program is distinguished by its low faculty-to-student ratio that provides students with the attention and feedback they need to refine and achieve their artistic goals. Faculty and students are artists working in all genres—film, video, photography, painting, sculpture, performance and installation. A significant number of alumni have achieved national and international acclaim and often return to share their insights and expertise as visiting faculty and guest lecturers.