Presentation

Discovering the various fields and movements of contemporary art by developing one’s own artistic expression. Such is the opportunity offered by this Bachelor programme to young, passionate artists wishing to perfect their technique, experiment with discourse and consolidate a critical stance. Students benefit from practical and theoretical supervision provided by major actors of the contemporary art scene.

Thanks to state-of-the-art infrastructure, workshops with acknowledged artists and courses provided by experienced practitioners, the students gradually become seasoned in numerous techniques (etching, drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, sound, screen printing, lithography) and means of expression (performance, video, installation, new media or exhibition design). Theory also plays a major role, supported by studio visits and exhibitions as well as a host of multidisciplinary lectures within ECAL.

From pure artistic practice to exhibition curatorship, via writing, teaching or research, the range of opportunities is all the wider by creating an exceptional portfolio. This programme is also a gateway to the Master Fine Arts at ECAL or in another institution.

Language

French

Qualification issued

Bachelor of Arts HES-SO in Visual Arts

Yearly fees (materials included)

Fees detail

Length

6 semesters

Credits

180 ECTS

Useful links

Admissions Contact

Equipments & infrastructures

Workshop BA Visual Arts Silk-screen printing Lithography Workshop Toroni Gallery Open Space BA Visual Arts (1) Open Space BA Visual Arts (2) 

Learning Objectives

First year
  • Acquire the basics of transmission by medium (photography, painting, sculpture, drawing, engraving and publishing, video, sound, performance, music, film, multimedia, etc.) and encourage the questioning of these different media.
  • Experiment with the different tools and artistic approaches available to define your own methodology of artistic work (lecture and workshop practice).
  • Acquire background knowledge via courses in theory, history and methodology, and learn the basics of criticism by calling on a variety of tools (Contemporary History, History of Ideas and Art, Sound Studies, Cultural Studies, Anthropology, Philosophy). Reflect on your work with regard to various historical forms and alternative learning methods.
  • Consider drawing as a work or as a medium for work, test different methods of printing and of multiplying and disseminating images or forms.
  • Test concepts and forms by crossing historical and conceptual knowledge, and test staging and hanging formats for your work.
  • Develop your personal practice in the studio, taking advantage of the many regular or occasional invitations from visiting artists (studio visits) to obtain a variety of points of view on your own work.
  • Take part in weeks of workshops supervised by artists from various fields (performers, painters, musicians, poets, writers, etc.) with the aim of carrying out collective projects (a mix of 1st, 2nd and 3rd year classes) and/or personal projects.
Second year
  • Continue your personal research and practice and experiment with exhibition models, under the eye of regular and visiting teachers.
  • Enhance your relationship with artistic forms and concepts by varying formats (seminars, workshops, collective work, etc.) and multiplying perspectives.
  • Benefit from studio visits and interviews with speakers to hear a variety of points of view on your personal work.
  • Understand exhibitions as a complex object that includes the production of works, group discussions and the definition of spaces, communication, hanging and public display, individually and in groups of various formats.
  • Enhance your knowledge through courses and seminars in Critical Theory, History of Art and Ideas, and Philosophy that call upon a variety of knowledge and critical fields.
  • Learn to make connections in a constellation of past and future artists and forms starting from specific objects, namely music and sound on recorded media (Sound).
  • Start writing and thinking about literary publication in various formats (book, performance, sound poetry, posters, etc.) and start research for the BA dissertation.
  • Take part in weeks of workshops supervised by practitioners from all over the world with the aim of carrying out collective (a mix of 1st, 2nd and 3rd year classes) and/or personal projects.
Third year
  • Refine your choices and positions based on the different methodologies and techniques tested during the course.
  • Multiply different perspectives and levels of criticism by writing about your own work and that of others.
  • Benefit from studio visits and interviews with the artists and curators involved to vary the points of view on your own work and to learn to network and talk about your work.
  • Continue to develop your personal practice and reflect on your work independently.
  • Broaden your knowledge with theory and methodology courses and write a dissertation as a tool to critically support your work or as an autonomous publication.
  • Test a variety of exhibition models and perfect your artistic language.
  • Take part in weeksof workshops supervised by practitioners from all over the world with the aim of carrying out collective projects (mix of 1st, 2nd and 3rd year classes) and/or personal projects.
  • Complete your studies with a graduation work and a portfolio, which will help you meet actors in art worlds and integrate these varied worlds according to chosen rather than imposed conditions, or continue your studies on an MA course.

Projects

This section contains a selection of emblematic or recent projects related to the disciplines taught in the Bachelor's degree.
See all projects

Semester Projects

Workshops

WORKSHOP Marie-Caroline Hominal / Pierrine Poget

FINE ARTS

WORKSHOP Marie-Caroline Hominal / Pierrine Poget

The BAAV is inviting two leading figures to its semestrial workshops: Pierrine Poget, author and poet, and Marie-Caroline Hominal, dancer and performer, both from Geneva. The former, described by one student as an "osteopath of the brain", invites a group of students to make a family with the voices in their heads, while the latter invites bodies into the space of the party for a performance in the ECAL film studio.

Workshop Emmanuelle Lainé

FINE ARTS

Workshop Emmanuelle Lainé

by Charlie Jannes, Romain Rochat, Céleste Meylan, Baptiste Schaerer, Romane Roy, Mariana Isler, Noemi Leneman, Anna Kawahara, Tom Grbic, Julie Wuhrmann

Contexte

Workshop Jan Vorisek

FINE ARTS

Workshop Jan Vorisek

by Caroline Bischoff, Louis Fontaine, Giada Gollin, Olivia Handschin, Amina Loumachi, Clara Luna, Axel Mattart, Achille Meier, Charlie Schär, Jamie Soria, Nayla Younes, Mayalène de Roquemaurel

Self explanatory

ECAL×Cheryl Donegan

FINE ARTS

ECAL×Cheryl Donegan

Nostalagia Is a Different Kind of Pain(t) ECAL x Cheryl Donegan On the occasion of  artgenève  from 3 to 6 March at Palexpo, ECAL presents projects by Bachelor Fine Arts students produced during a workshop with American artist  Cheryl Donegan Initiated in the context of a collaboration with the Art & Vie Foundation, whose mission revolves around textiles, this workshop aimed at crossing everyday objects, subverting craft processes and reproductive gestures. Produced by students from the first to the third year, the selection of works presented reflects the transdisciplinary approach of the programme, where tapestry meets painting in dialogue with more performative pieces or digitally printed and cut aluminium sculptures. Students Patricia Araujo Roxanne Christinet Alexis Colin Oriane Emery Salomé Engel Maria Esteves Albertine Grbic Clément Grimm Laura Hagmann Mathilde Hansen Mariana Isler Charlie Jannes Anna Kawahara Nolan Lucidi Ella Minton Romane Roy Lou-Anna Ulloa del Rio Flavio Visalli Florentina Walser Opening hours Thursday 3 March: 12 - 7pm Friday 4 March: 12 - 8pm Saturday 5 March: 12 - 8pm Sunday 6 March: 12 - 7pm Palexpo Rte François-Peyrot 30 1218 Le Grand-Saconnex https://palexpo.ch/

Workshop Cheryl Donegan

FINE ARTS

Workshop Cheryl Donegan

Workshop Attila Faravelli

FINE ARTS

Workshop Attila Faravelli

Workshop with Lydia Lunch

FINE ARTS

Workshop with Lydia Lunch

Workshop John M. Armleder

FINE ARTS

Workshop John M. Armleder

with John M. Armleder

Workshop Gabriele Garavaglia

FINE ARTS

Workshop Gabriele Garavaglia

with Gabriele Garavaglia

Workshop Lionel Ruffel

FINE ARTS

Workshop Lionel Ruffel

Workshop Dorota Gawęda & Eglė Kulbokaitė

FINE ARTS

Workshop Dorota Gawęda & Eglė Kulbokaitė

Workshop Lydia Lunch

FINE ARTS

Workshop Lydia Lunch

Diploma Projects

Achille Meier – Let them rest

FINE ARTS

Achille Meier – Let them rest

by Achille Meier

When the juices stick to the burning metal, deglaze generously with white wine.

Seline Symons – Groot geel object

FINE ARTS

Seline Symons – Groot geel object

by Seline Symons

Inspired by everyday, banal forms, I revisit our world to create new combinations. A game of childlike wonder. There is room for play, imagination and personal interpretation.

Giada Gollin – "Ohh I should never have ordered a 3rd bratmeal"

FINE ARTS

Giada Gollin – "Ohh I should never have ordered a 3rd bratmeal"

by Giada Gollin

„Just like… Like G G G Like Gugus starts with G and...“

Anna Kawahara – Panneau à souffler

FINE ARTS

Anna Kawahara – Panneau à souffler

by Anna Kawahara

"So, what should we choose? Weight or lightness?"

Romain Rochat – Bunny Express

FINE ARTS

Romain Rochat – Bunny Express

by Romain Rochat

But he was going at 100 km/h after all

Romane Roy – OVERRULED

FINE ARTS

Romane Roy – OVERRULED

by Romane Roy

[…] You know I've never been to one of these things before and when I think about how many people wanted this, and how many people cried over it and stuff, I mean, I think everybody looks great tonight. Look at Jessica Lopez, that dress is amazing and Emma Gerber that hair do must have taken hours and you look really pretty. So why is everybody stressing over this thing? I mean it's just plastic, it's really just (she breaks the crown). A piece for Gretchen Wieners, a partial Spring Fling Queen. A piece for Janis Ian and a piece for Regina George, she fractured her spine and she still looks like a rockstar, and some for everybody else. (Cady’s prom speech in MEAN GIRLS)

Patricia Araujo – Saudade

FINE ARTS

Patricia Araujo – Saudade

by Patricia Araujo

«Os olhos da nossa memória vêem melhor do que os nossos.» — «The eyes of our memory see better than ours.» José Sobral Almada-Negreiros How do we know our memories are real and not dreamlike?

Romain Deriaz – That'll do, Donkey. That'll do.

FINE ARTS

Romain Deriaz – That'll do, Donkey. That'll do.

by Romain Deriaz

Huit peintures à l'huile de colza AOP certifié durable, but in English

Tom Grbic – Imagine ne pas pouvoir fuir, performance continue de la tolérance et de laa raison

FINE ARTS

Tom Grbic – Imagine ne pas pouvoir fuir, performance continue de la tolérance et de laa raison

by Tom Grbic

Imagine not being able to run away is a continuous performance lasting the whole day. It aims to show the principle of ‘trans work’ theorised by Josephine Gilles Harris in 2019. J. G. Harris highlights, among other things, the fact that queer people need to maintain a constant performative state in order to be able to navigate the world in an ‘understandable’ way. With an activation of texts by Laurène Marx, Tom Grbic, Josephine Gilles Harris and Adel Tincelin, it is also an effort to inscribe ourselves in a lineage, a critical and welcoming queer History.

Charlie Jannes – Frame by frame

FINE ARTS

Charlie Jannes – Frame by frame

by Charlie Jannes

"Pattern, itself an architectural species, reflects order and stability. Then a need to create chaos as though life itself were taking place. Finally, the bonding (layer by layer), the interpretation of paint, fabric, photograph, tea towel, ribbon, lace, and glue. A collage : a simultaneity; a visual dazzlement, a multilayering, a final message for the senses. (…)"

Ella Minton – Untitled

FINE ARTS

Ella Minton – Untitled

by Ella Minton

My diploma project is an self-portrait created using ball point pens and Chinese ink on six sections of cardboard that are one metre by eighty centimetres put together to create a three metre by one metre sixty piece. The goal of the project is to represent uncertainty, anxiety and internal conflict. Leaving blank space to play an equally important role as the filled in sections, to reinforce the loss of self in this emotional whirlwind.

Mathilde Hansen – Advertise what makes you crazy

FINE ARTS

Mathilde Hansen – Advertise what makes you crazy

by Mathilde Hansen

Could you take a picture of me like this? Where I’m standing, here From the other side? Is it better like this? Do I look cool? More serious or smiling? More serious, ok Great.

Program

This section lists the detailed modules and courses for each semester of the programme.

Semester 1 Semester 2 Semester 3 Semester 4 Semester 5 Semester 6

Theory, research and implementation I
6 ECTS
  • Topaze

  • No Sound: Sound Reflection

  • To Be Titled

Drawing and editing I
6 ECTS
  • Creative Drawing

  • Multiples

Media Technology I
12 ECTS
  • Painting?

  • Presto digiti

  • Rational Amusement

  • Rec/Play image

     

Projects I
6 ECTS
  • Special week
  • Display and motivations
Theory, research and implementation II
6 ECTS
  • Topaze
  • No Sound: Sound Reflection
  • To Be Titled
Drawing and editing II
6 ECTS
  • Creative Drawing

  • Multiples

Media Technology II
12 ECTS
  • Painting?

  • Presto digiti

  • Rational Amusement

  • Rec/Play image

     

Projects II
6 ECTS
  • Special week
  • Display and motivations
Theory, research and implementation III
6 ECTS
  • History and theory of art
  • Theory and practice of contemporary art
  • History of Ideas That Matter
Specific Courses I
4 ECTS
  • Sound

  • Rec/Play

Critical Courses I
4 ECTS
  • Facts and figures
  • Ecriture
Art-definition I
8 ECTS
Art-creation I
8 ECTS
  • Special week
  • Personal project
Theory, research and implementation IV
6 ECTS
  • History and theory of art
  • Theory and practice of contemporary art
  • History of Ideas That Matter
Specific Courses II
4 ECTS
  • Sound

  • Rec/Play

Critical Courses II
4 ECTS
  • Facts and figures
  • Ecritures
Art-definition II
8 ECTS
Art-creation II
8 ECTS
  • Special week
  • Personal project
Theory, research and implementation V
6 ECTS
  • History and theory of art
  • Theory and practice of contemporary art
  • History of Ideas That Matter
  • Mémoires de Bachelor

 

Art-definition III
12 ECTS
  • Personal project
  • Special week
  • Building a fire/exhibition practice I
Art-creation III
12 ECTS
Theory, research and implementation VI
8 ECTS
Art-definition IV
8 ECTS
  • Personal project
  • Building a fire/exhibition practice II
Bachelor project
14 ECTS
Find all the programme documents below

Alumni

Alfredo Aceto
Gina Proenza
Kelly Tissot
Career Opportunities

Visual artist, Art critic, Curator, Art director, Teacher, Cultural mediator, Performer, Stage manager, Exhibition designer, Video artist…

Other alumni

Valentin Carron, Claudia Comte, Sylvain Croci-Torti, Stéphane Dafflon, Philippe Decrauzat, Natacha Donzé, Cyprien Gaillard, Frédéric Gabioud, David Hominal, Gilles Furtwängler, Mélodie Mousset, Simon Paccaud, Gina Proenza, Jeanne-Salomé Rochat, Denis Savary, Baker Wardlaw, Shirin Yousefi…

Staff

Head of department

Stéphane Kropf

Coordination

Assistants
Charly Mirambeau
Romane De Watewille

Printing workshop
François Kohler

Lithography workshop
Simon Paccaud

Silk-screen workshop
Sylvain Croci-Torti 

Professors

Francis Baudevin 
Geoffrey Cottenceau 
Stéphane Dafflon 
Philippe Decrauzat 
Federico Nicolao 
Karim Noureldin 
Tatiana Rihs
Denis Savary
Thibault Walter

Lecturers

Philippe Azoury
Tina Braegger 
Emanuele Coccia 
Dimitri De Preux 
Gallien Déjean 
Patricia Falguières 
Tristan Garcia
Miriam Laura Leonardi 
Gina Proenza 
Stéphanie Serra
Zoe Stillpass

Visiting Lecturers

John M Armleder 
Erica Baum
Carlos Casas 
Delphine Coindet 
Rochelle Feinstein 
Ryan Foerster 
Gabriele Garavaglia 
Dorota Gaweda 
Maxime Graf 
Fiammetta Griccioli 
Wade Guyton 
Charlotte Herzig 
Marie­Caroline Hominal 
Eglè Kulbokaité 
Bernhard Leitner 
Lydia Lunch
Helen Marten
Shana Moulton
Hans­-Walter Müller 
Kaspar Müller
Olaf Nicolai
Precious Okoyomon 
Virginia Overton 
Lionel Ruffel
Thomas Tilly
Achraf Touloub
John Tremblay 
Hannah Weinberger