Advanced Research Seminar is a new course in Art and Design History and Theory that emphasizes advanced research and writing skills in the discipline and literature of the art, design and architecture fields. The course, required for most Parsons students, will prepare students for a thesis or capstone project in the fourth year and ground their art, design and architecture practice in the context of a broader historical and theoretical framework. The class builds on material and skills introduced in the required first-year Objects as History and Integrative Seminar 2 courses and in the second-year history and theory classes. Providing historical context and advanced critical and research methodologies in sections dedicated to art and design practice, the constructed environment, fashion, and visual culture, the instructor will, through lectures, discussions, conferences, readings, and first-hand study of objects and environments guide students through significant research and writing projects. Visual culture is manifold and highly diverse, and this inflection will explore the concept of artistic research as a means to more deeply understand the complex ways we both consume and produce images and objects. How are messages embedded in visual culture? How, in turn, are photographs, videos, illustrations, performances, graphic novels, sculptures, technological innovations - and more - used to communicate an idea or position? And what might it mean to make something that doesn't fit into any one category as we know it? In this inflection, students will explore interdisciplinarity, knowledge, production, context-responsiveness, collaborative making, and the productivity of creative failures.