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# Erin Latham, a Concept-Driven Installation Artist, Describes her Experience at IDSVA
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/erin-latham-a-concept-driven-installation-artist-describes-her-experience-at-idsva/
- Published: 2019-04-26T15:58:07.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:23:36.000Z
- Description: IDSVA offers a world-class low-residency PhD in art theory and philosophy to visual artists and creative scholars.
- Author: Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts (IDSVA)
- Tags: Announcement, Art Education Announcements, IDSVA, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:34 (2019, 2020, part 1)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2019/04/idsva_spring2019_sp-1080x720.jpg)

SHIFT (Fall 2017). Image courtesy of Erin Latham

Below is a personal account of Erin Latham’s experience in the [IDSVA](http://bit.ly/2IG2fYa?ref=hyperallergic.com) Low Residency PhD Program:

“In May 2017, I was given the opportunity to work with [Factory Obscura](https://www.factoryobscura.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), an Oklahoma City-based art collective. By fall, we opened our first interactive, large-scale installation entitled “SHIFT.” The project was an amazing success, with more than 20,000 attendees.

Most recently, Factory Obscura was the recipient of a million-dollar investment**,** and we are now busy building the collective’s first permanent public art experience in Oklahoma City.

In 2015, when I chose to enroll at IDSVA, I wasn’t sure whether what I had to offer the world as an artist was enough. Now, as I prepare to start writing my dissertation, my understanding of the role of art in contemporary society and my contribution as an artist has changed dramatically. I’ve grown in directions that I wouldn’t have otherwise considered. I am developing a tool-kit that allows me to better investigate the world around me through aesthetic theory and practice.

The cross-pollination of my studies at IDSVA with my work at Factory Obscura has opened fascinating and rewarding new territories for me.”

To see more of Erin’s work, please visit [www.erinlatham.com.](http://bit.ly/2GEBh0K?ref=hyperallergic.com)

IDSVA’s pioneering curriculum—fusing distance learning with intensive residencies—allows working art professionals to pursue rigorous advanced scholarship without having to interrupt or abandon their teaching careers, art practice, or other professional responsibilities.

**For more information, visit visit** [**www.idsva.edu.**](http://bit.ly/2IG2fYa?ref=hyperallergic.com)