From February 16 to 20 2026, eight students from the MA Work.Master at HEAD – Geneva took part in a week-long workshop at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Bari (Italy), as part of the 6th project of the ECART network – European Ceramic Art & Research Team. Led by CERCCO (Experimentation and Research Centre for Contemporary Ceramics) at HEAD, the project provided an opportunity for our students to collaborate with around thirty participants from France, Belgium, Monaco, Italy, and Switzerland.

Entitled PICCOLA SCOLASTICA, the workshop brought together students from the partner institutions around a shared research and production project in ceramics. Taking as its starting points the ceramic collections of the Santa Scolastica Museum and the troglodyte city of Matera, the workshop developed a formal investigation into “composite forms”, works composed of multiple combined elements, ranging from miniatures to collective sculptural pieces.

Inspired by the historical context of Apulia, and in particular by the funerary urns attributed to the forger Prosper Biardot, the project explored notions of authenticity and forgery, fiction, ceramic miniatures, and architectural memory. The week also included visits to major sites in the region, an introduction to and practice of maiolica painting in the workshops of Grottaglie, as well as reflections on clay extraction.

This workshop is part of an ongoing dynamic of international collaboration and shared artistic research, where experimentation, historical context, and collective production intersect, as the participants share in this video.

This project was supported by HES-SO and HEAD – Genève.