A research programme initiated in partnership with L'École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris (ENSBA), the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MAMC+) as well as with researchers from CIEREC (Jean Monnet University, Saint-Étienne) and LARHRA (Lyon 2 University) in 2018.
Since 2019, the programme was developed internationally in partnership with:
- The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels, Belgium
- Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, Slovakia
- Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto, Portugal
- School of Visual and Media Arts of the University of Quebec in Montreal, Canada
- Institute of Fine Arts of Tetouan, Morocco
In 2021, the programme has obtained funding from the Erasmus+ programme, Cooperation Partnerships1, for its pedagogical component.
The Arts and Crafts Aujourd'hui Programme is supported by the City of Saint-Étienne, French Ministry of Culture and the Erasmus + Programme
The Arts and Crafts Aujourd'hui project responds to the question of the professionalization of young artists and designers, a central concern of European Schools of Arts. Moreover, artists and designers are increasingly concerned with the need to revalue local know-how and to establish a dialogue with diverse environments, both from a technical and a professional and cultural point of view. This is accompanied by an increased interest in the processes of production, the materiality of the works and everything that is related to the specific intelligence of the hand. These orientations can be linked to the search for other modes of eco production in a post-industrial era and is associated with a desire to rethink the relationship to the the object in the era of the anthropocene.
Through the Arts and Crafts theme placed in the contemporary context, our project aims to propose new pedagogical methods to train artists and designers ready to enter the labour market, committed to the environment, open to both the world and local cultures.
These methodological objectives aim to:
- Explore the particular posture of the artist as an actor of change, who places himself at the centre of societal issues, thus decompartmentalising and democratising art and design
- Seek new modes of production, responding to ecological challenges (waste management, minimisation of waste, resource management, reorganisation of the way we produce)
- Encourage innovation and a transformation of views and uses through collaboration between craftsmen, designers and artists.
Activities:
-3 training activities with staff
-3 weeks of international workshops with students (including one at Esadse)
-4 dissemination events
-4 transnational meetings
Deliverables:
- Arts and Crafts today edition: Abécédaire "For a new way of creating and inhabiting the world"
- Pedagogical bifurcations: art pedagogy & research methodology
- Collaborative digital space and virtual exhibition Arts & Crafts Aujourd'hui
