ELIA Seminar | Becoming an Artist
Routes for aspiring artists and designers wanting to join an arts school
13 - 15 March 2019
Hosted by Beaux-Arts Nantes Saint-Nazaire, France
The interest in art studies worldwide has generated such enthusiasm that numbers are growing each year, to the point that a real traffic jam has been created at the point of entry. This has resulted in increasingly selective admission policies being put in place resulting in competition between applicants, between schools and the creation of a multitude of preparatory programmes. These programmes have lengthened the period of study and paradoxically fostered a tendency towards standardisation.
How do we deal with these phenomena? What answers can we provide to students’ demands, aspirations and contingencies? How do we provide the necessary selection processes, yet remain open and diverse. On what criteria and objectives are these processes based? How can we provide clarity and transparency and still retain a rich landscape of preparatory programmes to our art schools?
These and more questions are at the core of the ELIA Regional Seminar, hosted by and co-organised at the initiative of Beaux-Arts Nantes Saint-Nazaire, on 13-15 March 2019.
During this event, leaders, academics, artists, professionals and intellectuals from European and international higher arts institutions will come together to actively discuss and analyse the models that have been developed, in France and Europe in the last two decades. The aim is to share experiences and models of best practice, as well as identify new strategies and new perspectives, and outline critically engaged responses that create productive dialogue around the future of students, schools and artistic creation in general.
How does your institution arrange the admission process? Help us identify different frameworks and fill out a short survey that will serve as an informative basis for the seminar, available at this link.
Registration
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: 4 March 2019
ELIA Members Registration Fee: 150 EUR
Non-Member Fee: 200 EUR
The registration fee includes all seminar materials, access to all sessions, 2 lunches and 2 dinners.
TERMS & CONDITIONS
Please note that by registering for this event, you accept ELIA Events Terms and Conditions. These include the cancellation policy and permission to use or publish any videos or photographs recorded by ELIA during the event.
Speakers
The ELIA Seminar will gather numerous representatives from international higher arts education institutions to share their practices and experiences with the admissions processes to arts studies.
We are excited to announce that the French Artist
ORLAN will give a welcome speech on Thursday 14 March.
Following ORLAN,
Marc Partouche, former director of the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts Bruxelles and now a director of École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (EnsAD) in Paris, will address the topic of admission processes to arts schools.
Programme
The programme brings delegates to both Nantes and Saint-Nazaire.
Wednesday 13 March 2019
| 17:00 - 17:30 |
Departure from Nantes to Saint-Nazaire |
| 19:00 |
Registration and welcome drinks at Escal'Atlantic, Saint-Nazaire |
| 19:30 |
Dinner at Escal'Atlantic, Saint-Nazaire |
Thursday 14 March 2019
| 08:00 - 09:00 |
Registration at Theatre de St Nazaire |
| 09:00 - 10:45 |
Plenary session
Keynote by ORLAN (French Artist)
Keynote by Marc Partouche, director of École nationale supérieure
des Arts Décoratifs (EnsAD), Paris |
| 10:45 - 11:15 |
Coffee break |
| 11:15 - 12:30 |
Debate: Why a selection at the entrance of art schools?
Berlin University of the Arts, ALBA - Académie Libanaise Des Beaux-Arts |
| 12:30 - 14:00 |
Lunch break |
| 14:00 - 17:00 |
Parallel workshops
When and how to select? // When and how to prepare future students?
HEAD – Genève, ENSCI, Royal Academy of Art The Hague, Glasgow School of Art |
| 19:00 |
Dinner |
Friday 15 March 2019
| 08:30 |
Departure from Saint-Nazaire to Nantes, Ecole des Beaux-Arts |
| 09:30 - 11:30 |
Parallel workshops (continuation)
When and how to select? // When and how to prepare future students? |
| 11:30 - 12:30 |
Conclusions
Moderated by David Robert, Deputy General Director of SINGA France;
former journalist at the Journal des Arts |
| 12:30 - 13:00 |
Closing remarks |
| 13:00 |
Farewell lunch |
Accommodation
Delegates are advised to book accommodation at the earliest convenience. ELIA has made pre-bookings for delegates at two hotels in Saint Nazaire, walking distance from the main venue.
Please book directly with the hotel via
phone or
e-mail by
mentioning that you are attending the ELIA Seminar.
Any bookings after the deadline mentioned in the hotel details below will depend on availability and on a first come first serve basis.
15 min walking distance from the venue
Price rate: 110 EUR per night incl. breakfast
Phone: 00332 40 22 42 61
E-mail: contact@hotelleberry.com
Deadline: 13 February
1 min walking distance from the venue
Price rate: 98 EUR per night incl. breakfast
Phone: 00332 40 19 01 01
E-mail: commercial@hie44600.com
Deadline: 13 February
Travel
The programme of the ELIA Regional Seminar will be held in Saint-Nazaire and Nantes.
STEP 1: Arriving in Nantes
With 15 departures per day, Nantes is approximately 2 hours from Paris on the TGV high-speed train. The Nantes Atlantique international airport is located 15 minutes from downtown and the TGV connection to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris (3 h 15) makes coming here all the easier!
By plane
You can reach the Nantes city centre in 20 minutes with the airport shuttle.
Another possibility is the airport shuttle to Neustrie (free) and then the tramway (line 3) to the city centre.
By train
If you are arriving by train to SNCF Station, use the Sortie Nord (North Exit) and take the tram line 1 (direction François-Mitterrand). Stop at the Mediatheque and walk another 10 minutes to reach the Beaux-Arts Nantes Saint-Nazaire.
STEP 2: Transport to Saint Nazaire
On Wednesday 13 March there will be the transport organised for delegates, departing at 17:00 from Beaux-Arts Nantes Saint-Nazaire, 2 allée Frida Kahlo, to Saint Nazaire. Delegates will have time to check in at the hotel and then join the registration and welcome drinks starting at 19:00 at Escal'Atlantic, Saint-Nazaire.
Venues
During the ELIA Regional Seminar you will have the opportunity to enjoy some unique spaces in Nantes & Saint Nazaire:
Escal' Atlantique
Boulevard de la Légion d'Honneur
Saint Nazaire
The Wednesday dinner will be held at Escal' Atlantique, a hidden treasure inside the former submarine base in the harbour of Saint-Nazaire. Escal'Atlantic is a museum that explores the historic ocean liner experience and tells the incredible story of the luxurious giants of the oceans. Ready to set sail?
Theatre de St Nazaire
Rue des Frères Pereire
Saint Nazaire
The programme on Thursday will be held at Theatre de St Nazaire, situated between the old railway station and the submarine base.
Ecole des Beaux-Arts Nantes
2 allée Frida Kahlo
Nantes
On Friday the delegates will be brought to Ecole des Beaux-Arts Nantes, where the programme will take place.
Payment Information
When submitting the registration form, you will be asked to pay your participation fee online.
Participation fees can be paid with the following payment types:
- Credit Card (Mastercard, Maestro, Visa, American Express)
- SOFORT Banking (SOFORT Banking is a popular payment method in Germany and is also used in 10 countries)
- PayPal (Worldwide online payments system that supports online money transfers. You can use this payment method if you have a PayPal account)
- iDEAL (The iDEAL platform combines the online banking systems of 10 of the largest Dutch banks - ABN AMRO, ASN Bank, Bunq, ING, Knab, Rabobank, RegioBank, SNS Bank, Triodos Bank and van Lanschot)
- Bancontact (Bancontact uses a physical debit card that is connected to a Belgian checking account)
ELIA uses a trusted online payment provider Mollie. For more information please refer to
Mollie Online Payment Terms and Conditions.
If you are having problems with the payment, you can also contact ELIA Conference Manager Janja Ferenc at janja.ferenc[at]elia-artschools.org for further assistance.
ORLAN
ORLAN is one of the most famous internationally known French artists.
She creates sculptures, photographs, performances, videos and video games, and augmented reality, using scientific and medical techniques like surgery and biogenetics. These are only mediums for her, the idea prevails and the materiality pursues.
ORLAN makes her own body the medium, the raw material, and the visual support for her work. It takes place as the “public debate”. She is a major figure of the body art and of “carnal art” as she used to define it in her 1989 manifesto.
Her commitment and her liberty are an integral part of her work. She defends innovative, interrogative and subversive positions, in her entire body of work. ORLAN changes constantly and radically the data, which disrupt conventions and “ready-made thinking”. She is opposed to natural determinism, social and political and to all domination forms, male supremacy, religion, cultural segregation and racism, etc.
Always mixed with humour, often a parody or even grotesque, her provocative artworks shock audiences and shake up the pre-established codes.
ORLAN won the E-reputation award for the most observed and followed artist on the Internet.
ORLAN taught at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena (CA, U.S.A.).
She was also a professor at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts de Paris-Cergy (ENSAPC).
Photo: Self-Hybridizations, 2007, Portrait of ORLAN and Agatha Ruiz de la Prada
More info
Marc Partouche
Marc Partouche is an art critic, writer, curator, with exten
sive expertise in higher education in the fields of art, design and media education.
As a university administrator, he is the former Director of the
Ecole nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ENSAD) in Paris (until July 2018), of the
Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts (ARBA-ESA) in Brussels, and of the
École supérieure d’arts de Paris-Cergy.
As a civil servant at the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, he dedicated his career to contemporary art and artistic creation (notably as an inspector for research, technological creation and the audiovisual sector, and as an adviser to the Head of the Visual Arts Division of the Ministry).
In addition, he was head of research at the Cité du Design in Saint-Etienne, and adjunct to chief curator of the international exhibition Images 2004.
As an educator, he holds a PhD in Aesthetics and Art, and has taught art, culture, media history and theory (having held positions at the art school in Tours, the University of Provence Aix-Marseille, ENSCI-les Ateliers in Paris). He is President of the Centre international de recherche sur les pratiques de création (Brussels) and co-founder of the research chair in Creation and Creativity (Saint-Etienne, Paris, Brussels).
As a critic and art historian, he was a member of the executive board of AICA France, and has published over 300 articles and forewords.
Debate: Why is there a selection at the entrance of art schools?
Beyond the material contingencies (space, material, budget) and a strong pedagogical framework, why is there a pronounced need for a selection procedure during the admission process to arts schools? Is a selection procedure even necessary?
Do selection procedures homogenise the student body and discriminate against certain socio-cultural groups? Are there alternative models and if so, what are the benefits and disadvantages of using such models?
Delegates will be invited to join the debate, addressing these questions; in particular, two institutions will illustrate their procedure:
Speaker:
Lars Paschke, professor at Berlin University of the Arts
Speaker:
Joseph Rustom, director of studies at ALBA
Workshops
Delegates will be asked to join one of the parallel workshops, held on
Thursday 14 March from 14:00 to 17:00.
WORKSHOP 1: When and how to select future students?
Depending on the country and the institution, there are various stages of selection. How is the selection organized and in what time frame? With what consequences and what results? Are there alternatives to the entrance test? Can several types of selection coexist? What does the selection process say about the school's pedagogical project?
Case studies:
- A “step-by-step” selection process, co-organized with a partner High School: Lysianne Léchot Hirt, Deputy Director-Education, HEAD – Genève
- An atypical entrance test: Yann Fabès, Director, École nationale supérieure de création industrielle (ENSCI - Les Ateliers, Paris)
WORKSHOP 2: When and how to prepare future students?
Preparatory classes outside of the curriculum (pre-degree) have been imposing themselves in France for about twenty years. This model, inherited from preparatory classes at the Grandes Ecoles, has since diversified and overlaps with other types of preparatory programs set up in other European countries: transition years in high schools and/or art s
chools; short programs and summer schools; language preparation, etc. What are the consequences on the duration of studies? With what objectives and what results?
Case studies:
- Joint program between local High Schools and the School of Art, and a “Young Talents” education sector: Zanne Zwart, Head of Preparatory Courses, The Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK)
- A broad offer of preparatory programmes: Thomas Greenough, Head of International Academic Development, Glasgow School of Art and Shona Paul, Head of Professional and Continuing Education, responsible for the Foundation Year, Glasgow School of Art
