Bachelor of Arts in Fine arts

The five options in the HEAD – Genève bachelor’s course in visual arts are run by teams of artists, theorists and curators from Switzerland and elsewhere. This innovative structure provides an approach that goes beyond the traditional divisions into media (painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, video, performance and new media), themes (bodies, spaces, images, interfaces, realities and reproductions) or methods (books, programmes, studios, projects, collective or individual initiatives). Its unusual groupings are based on the hybrid reality of contemporary artistic practice. The theoretical instruction provides a multivocal approach that blends readings across time, practices and disciplines of thought. The specialised classes, focusing on production, offer a high-quality interdisciplinary technical approach and a series of 1:1-scale artistic experiments.

Teaching language : French. See all language requirements

Bachelor's studies at HEAD – Genève are in French.

Candidates whose upper-secondary level qualification has not been issued by a French-speaking institution must, once they have been admitted, submit a B2-level French certificate by 31 August.
Candidates do not have to submit this B2-level French certificate if they hold:

  • an upper-secondary level qualification from a German-speaking Swiss canton or from Ticino that includes French as a subject.
  • a tertiary level A qualification (Bachelor's degree or equivalent qualification of at least 180 ECTS credits) in which French is the official language of instruction.

Access to the schedule of the Department Fine Arts
Access to the website of the workshop in animated cinema
See all Fine Arts projects
Guide de l'étudiant-e-x Arts visuels 2024-2025 (only in French)

Head of Department

Scientific deputy

Options
Re/Production - images, documents, publishing

Circulation of images
Digital culture
Writing

Responsable

Assistants

Teaching staff

Invited speakers

Rémi Brandon
Guest : Alfatih

[Inter]action - performances, writing, digital practices

Performances
Writings
Digital culture

The [Inter]action option explores the relationship between art and action, both from a concrete and a theoretical perspective. Here we seek to develop artistic work whose modus operandi is specific, because the form of the work is set in the here and now, in it’s making of. The Art/ Action option trans-cends disciplines, media and categories of representation (even though performance is perhaps its closest definition), paving the way for research and development focusing on creativity in action.

Responsable

Assistants

Teaching staff

Invited speakers

Josèfa Ntjam, Rashad Becker

Construction - sculpture, objects, installations

Sculpture
Objects
Installations

The Construction option offers a cross-disciplinary approach to sculpture, installation and space viewed in their broader context: the production of objects, assemblage, systems, media, public art, environments and sound. The option adopts a dual approach that closely integrates the place of the workshop within the school with the development of events outside its walls— in public spaces or in the context of international exhibitions—and offers a formal and conceptual initiation that seeks to align the student’s project and its gradual formalization with the cultural, social and political dimension of mutual acceptance, the collective and the city.

Responsable

Assistants

Teaching staff

Invited speakers

Roxane Bovet, Aimeric Baumann, Camille Farrah Bühler, Bastien Gachet, Paul Hutzli , Yoan Mudry, Émilie Parendeau, Maud Pollien, Swann Thommen

Information/fiction - photography, video, media

Photography
Video
Medias

The program ‘Information Fiction’ offers a multidisciplinary space for the production of visual and sound works (video/film, photography, sound, installation, performance). In the studio or during workshops, students learn to create multimedia narratives, compose sound and musical environments or hijack existing devices (artificial intelligence, social media, film, VR, etc.). Questioning the way in which they represent and share their vision of the world, artists in the making experiment with different media, while developing their own artistic language: How can I introduce doubt, conflict and desire into my work? How can I navigate my identity between autofiction, archives, the museum and VR?  And what is the relationship between documentation and fiction, and feminist, ecological, decolonial and queer politics?

Responsable

Assistants

Teaching staff

Invited speakers

Rashad Becker, Garance Chabert, Randa Maroufi

Representation - painting, drawing, installation

Painting
Drawing
Installation

Using the specific tools of painting, drawing and installation, how can we think outside the framework of a blank canvas or sheet of drawing paper? Through the rationale of the workshop, this option engages with day-to-day creativity and issues of a theoretical nature. It offers a broad understanding of art and images viewed in their cultural, social and political context. Combining various other media and techniques—from publishing to the moving image and performance—this option leaves students’ suggestions open, rather than consigning them to a particular current or trend. Here, on the contrary, professors help to breathe life into evolving projects, responding in real time to the needs of evolving independent thought.

Responsable

Assistants

Teaching staff

Invited speakers

Emilie Ding, Fabrice Stroun

Theoretical teaching

Theoretical teaching, in the form of courses and seminars, provides a progressive approach that combines chronological readings using various artistic media (photography, video, performance etc.) and disciplines of thought (art history, philosophy, cultural studies and so on). Its purpose is to help students acquire knowledge and think critically. It is linked to the production of theoretical work and based on interdisciplinary research projects. Some of the courses are organized in partnership with other institutions (including the University of Geneva).

Teaching staff

Documents attachés

Study plan and detailed courses - in French

Specialized teaching

YEAR 1
Overture 1

The Opening 2 and Opening 3 modules offer the following courses
below:

- Drawing - Figuration, Exploring the server, Jean-Xavier Renaud
- Drawing - Representation, Pascal Berthoud
- Photography - Virginie Otth
-Video - Claude Piguet
- Screens - Hervé Graumann
-Color - Christian Robert-Tissot
-Edition/printing - Remi Brandon
- Ceramic - Christian Gonzenbach
-Three dimensions, Alois Godinat, Luc Mattenberger

YEARS 2 and 3

The modules Approfondissement 1, Approfondissement 2, Approfondissement 3 and Approfondissement 4 offer the following courses

- Writing practices, Emmanuelle Pireyre
- Basic sound / laboratory sound, Swann Thommen
- Video-base / video-laboratory, Claude Piguet
- Drawing-figuration, Jean-Xavier Renaud
- 100% Digital, Hervé Graumann
- Built object, Luc Mattenberger
- Intervenir-BIP, Claude-Hubert Tatot, Christian Robert-Tissot
- Practicing research collectively, Anne-Julie Raccoursier, Aurélien Gamboni
- Editing-artist's book, Pierre Leguillon, Laurent Kuhni
- Constructed drawing, Pascal Berthoud
- Virtual reality, Simon Senn
- Silk-screen printing, Thomas Perrodin
- Act: react, Christophe Kihm, Yan Duyvendak
- Exhibit, Katharina Hohmann
- Performer, Davide Christelle Sanvee
- Artist's book - Remi Brandon, Pierre Lequillon
- Photography practice, Aurélie Pétrel

Teaching staff

Documents attachés

Study plan and detailed courses - in French