Presentation
This Option is intended to give the student an opportunity to attain a certain artistic and intellectual level, and the technical and technological skills that will allow him to define his own autonomous, personal position in the domain of contemporary art and creative research.
Its study programme is both non-specialist, professional in its orientation, and personalised. The paradoxical combination of these three traits is what constitutes the specificity of a teaching programme characterised by recurring structural topics such as:
• the theoretical dimension of art, and its relationship to knowledge;
• the relationship of art to practical work and technology;
• the implementation of projects, and the logic of research work;
• the ontology of the work of art, its critique, and its conditions of possibility;
• the function and status of art, and of the artist.
These proposals are at the heart of the syllabus. The Art Option, following Year 1, is divided into two phases, each of two years – a "Programme" phase (Years 2 and 3, in other words the third to sixth semesters), and a "Projet" phase (Years 4 and 5, in other words the seventh to tenth semesters) – which lead, respectively, to the DNAP (Diplôme National d'Art Plastique) and the DNSEP (Diplôme National Supérieur d'Expression Plastique). At the end of Year 3, an admissions panel approves access to the Project phase, provided that a student has obtained the DNAP.
Art Option, Programme Phase [DNAP]
In this Phase, the objectives are:
• impregnation with the characteristics of the territories and forms of questioning that are specific to art and contemporary creativity;
• formal experimentation in the diversity of contemporary media;
• a mastery of conceptual, technical and technological methods;
• practice in the critical presentation of work;
• a progressive approach to personal projects.
The teaching method consists of preparing the student to develop a specific working methodology that will allow him to follow a personal path. The method is progressive (from imposed subjects to optative investigations), and adapted to the personality of the student, who is encouraged to profit from possible "errors", and not shy away from risk-taking.
The method is characterised by transitions:
• from a thematic questioning to the installation of an individual, singular problematic;
• from the mastery of a method to its appropriation, in the context of supervised work in the technical and technological departments;
• from practice to the production process.
The dynamic of the Programme Phase is ensured by a rigorous schedule featuring, successively:
• short- and medium-term exercises and projects that progressively complexify the issues and objectives;
• documentary and research work;
• individual and collective work;
• technical courses and workshops with guest artists and other professionals;
• study trips to the Venice biennial and Documenta in Kassel, the art centres and museums of the Rhône-Alpes region and Paris, and neighbouring countries.
The teaching is carried out by the school's own staff and guest specialists from different European countries. Theoretical work occupies a central position, in the form of lectures, seminars, conferences, symposia and visits to exhibitions.
Attendance
The students are required to be present on a weekly basis for meetings, lectures and the presentation of work. Attendance, participation and level of activity are among the criteria used in the assessment of students' work, and in the awarding of ECTS credits.
Art Option, Project Phase [DNSEP]
Fundamental issues
In this Phase, the topics are multiple and complex. Essentially, the aims are:
• to facilitate the student's progress towards intellectual and operational autonomy, along with his individualised engagement in the open, multiplex field of contemporary art, and related domains;
• to optimise the theoretical, technical and operational skills he has already acquired;
• to facilitate the work and the process, the attitude and the approach, in a voluntaristic research perspective;
• to insist on the professional quality of work produced, and its conditions of display, as well as an awareness of the historical, philosophical and social contexts.
The different skills that are to be acquired by the end of the study period are listed in the "Summary of employment references and acquired skills, from the Répertoire National des Certifications Professionnelles", in the "Diplomas" section of the present document.
Teaching modes
The teaching methods applied within the different Teaching Units are not compartmentalised, and the teaching staff are involved in all the various aspects of the process. From courses to workshops, via individual tuition, all the different teaching modes are brought in.
Methods
The teaching methods and techniques are as follows.
1/ a contract between the students and the teachers
The aim of the contract may be specific (an object project) or more general (organisational, methodological). The student-teacher relationship is always personal, the intention being to take into account the sensorial, intellectual, experimental and technical dimensions of the work.
2/ dialogue and exchanges
The student is in an ongoing situation of encounters with:
• internal and external spaces/times;
• traditional and technological methods, and documentation (library);
• theoretical and relational domains (intellectual issues, the international art scene);
• the transversality of knowledge (ARC, etc.);
• interactions with other students, teachers, artists, active professionals and guest intellectuals.
Attendance
The students are required to be present on a weekly basis for meetings, lectures and the presentation of work. Attendance, participation and level of activity are among the criteria used in the assessment of the students' work, and in the awarding of ECTS credits.
course contents
results of the diplomas since 1999