Education
- Ph.D., Art History, The Graduate Center, CUNY, 2021
- MA, Art History, Hunter College, CUNY, 2013
- BA, Art History and Social Science, Sarah Lawrence College, 2006
Bio and Affiliation
Dr. Hirsch completed her PhD in 2021 with a dissertation titled "Inevitable Associations: Art, Institution, and Cultural Intersection in Los Angeles, 1973-1988," which examines artist networks, cultural intersections, and manifestations of community in bicentennial Los Angeles. Broader research interests include legacies of conceptual art, contemporary urbanism, and artist identity in the twilight of the welfare state. She has presented her research at the College Art Association Annual Conference, Boston University, CUNY, SECAC (forthcoming), and in a virtual symposium organized by scholars from the University of Warsaw and the University of Bern. She was a Teaching Fellow in History + Theory at SCI-Arc (2018-2020), and has taught the history of art and architecture at Los Angeles City College, San Francisco State University, Hunter College, Brooklyn College, and the Spitzer School of Architecture. Her writing has appeared in Art in America, ARTnews, Artforum, Frieze, The Brooklyn Rail, and T: The New York Times Style Magazine. She has contributed to books published by the Dia Art Foundation, The Jewish Museum, Miles McEnery, and Gagosian. She is a co-founder of 839, a contemporary art gallery run out of a 1924 bungalow in Hollywood.
Awards and Honors
- PEN America Writers’ Emergency Fund, 2020
- Doctoral Student Research Grant, The Graduate Center, CUNY, 2019
- Knickerbocker Award for Archival Research in American Studies, The Graduate Center, CUNY, 2017–2019
- Conference Presentation Support for Ph.D. Students, The Graduate Center, CUNY, 2017
- Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Curatorial Fellow, Dia Art Foundation, 2016-2017
- Writer-in-Residence, The Shandaken Project, New York, 2013
- William Graf Travel Scholarship Award, Hunter College, CUNY, 2012
Publications:
- Review: "The Collected Poems of Mary Ellen Solt," Rain Taxi #117, Volume 30, Number 1 (Spring 2025)
- "Folding Light: Liz Nielsen’s Spatial Dynamics," in Liz Nielsen. New York: Miles McEnery Gallery, 2025.
- "Mail Art Pioneer Anna Banana Dies at 84," Hyperallergic (December 19, 2024).
- "Review: Paul Pfeiffer’s Retrospective Shows How Spectacles Have Become Our Culture’s New Religion," Art in America (January 10, 2024).
- "Review: The Fire, the Couch, and the Clit Ring: Kaari Upson at Sprüth Magers," Art in America (October 15, 2022).
- "Review: 'Witch Hunt' at the Hammer Museum and Institute of Contemporary Art," Art in America (February 3, 2022).
- "Review: Body Image: New Sculpture at Various Small Fires," Art in America (July 2021).
- "Review: Raymond Pettibon at Regen Projects," Art in America (January 2021).
- "Review: Ken Ehrlich at Human Resources Los Angeles,” Art in America (April 2020): 86-87.
- "Fine Lines," Off Topic vol. 4 (January 2020): 2-5.
- “Review: Christopher Myers at Fort Gansevoort Los Angeles,” Artforum.com (January 10, 2020).
- “Review: Suzanne Lacy Wants You to Shut Up and Listen,” Frieze.com (May 2019).
- “Alexander Calder and Ellsworth Kelly: A Rare Look at the Letters Between Two Art World Giants,” T: The New York Times Style Magazine (November 9, 2018).
- “Review: Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA,” ARTnews (Winter 2018).
- “Both Sides Now: Sam Stewart,” T: The New York Times Style Magazine (February 18, 2018): 110.
- “Review: David Lamelas at Maccarone,” Artforum (January 2018): 220.
- “Review: Below the Underground: Renegade Art and Action in 1990s Mexico,” brooklynrail.org (December 13, 2017).
- “John Mason at Albertz Benda,” T: The New York Times Style Magazine (November 12, 2017): 33.
- “Heroine’s Journey: Judy Chicago,” T: The New York Times Style Magazine (August 20, 2017): 110.
- “Have At It: A Post-Trump New York Looks at How Images, Ideas, and Resources Circulate,” ARTnews (Summer 2017): 118-122.