Cycle 1 art
The art department is dedicated to the ways in which art exists and is emerging today. It reveals the artistic representations and practices of the future. Issues and questions are raised, which students face with the support, experience, and insights that professors have acquired from their own artistic or theoretical experience.
Cycle 1 is organised so that it fulfils a dual purpose. It makes it possible to grasp a variety of media and practices. It allows each student to establish a unique field of research. During the two years, emphasis is placed on the primary importance of ‘workshop culture’, i.e. the acquisition of knowledge through experimentation with media. This workshop time is a period in which to develop tools, to explore artistic thinking through practice.
By ‘workshop culture’, we mean: the path, the steps, the language, the tools, and the enriching resources required to bring an idea to fruition. In the topic on enriching resources, we will focus on elements of knowledge: history of media, techniques, and their context; fluency in written and spoken language; and development of a critical approach to the challenges of artistic practices. The topic on language will focus on the components required to envisage how an idea will be brought to fruition.
Media practice is often accompanied by installation as a tool for debate, risk-taking, and note-taking. Other presentation materials are used according to the nature and artistic sensibility of the projects (online layout, page layout, staging, projection). The development of ideas and forms takes precedence over assessment alone. The back-and-forth between thought and form gradually leads the student to refine his or her perspective.
Participation in conferences, seminars, registration for workshops, experience acquired during internships in France and abroad, but also well organised workshops or taking the initiative of having exhibitions outside the institute are all elements favourable to the social repute of any young artist and are a part of everyday life of the art option.
Course categories
Courses are divided into common courses (such as “Communes et Mystères”), artistic practice courses and introductory research workshops (AIRA). Students are required to choose the practical art courses and may choose an AIRA, provided they do not overlap.
In Year 2, students must choose three courses from among the practical art courses, for both semesters of the year. To these three courses may be added, if they so wish, the choice of an introductory research workshop (Aira), with a limit of one workshop.
In Year 3, at the beginning of the year, students must choose two art practice courses from the range offered, for both semesters of the year. To these two courses may be added, if they so wish, the choice of an introductory research workshop (Aira).
Internship
Students will be required to complete an internship between Semester 3 and Semester 5. A report on the internship must be submitted to the Director of Studies, the teachers in the 1st cycle art option and the pedagogical secretariat three weeks before the assessment in Semester 6. Credits for this internship will be awarded in semester 6.
Assessments
Credits are awarded by the college of teachers on the basis of elements of continuous assessment resulting from work during lessons and presentations designed as a “test gallery” or in “Communes et Mystères”.
The path to a diploma
During the DNA, the student’s research and coursework from the first six semesters are evaluated by an external jury. To be eligible for the DNA, students must obtain 15 credits in semester 6, with the diploma counting for 15 credits. A written assignment is required to obtain the diploma. This assignment will focus on a work of contemporary art that the student did not create and that they have experienced under the conditions of dissemination provided for by the work. The preparation and follow-up of this written work must be carried out from the beginning of the year. Each student must choose the work on which they will write and a professor to supervise them in this work.
DNA assessment criteria
- Presentation of work (formal and critical);
- Relevance of the course and research related to the project;
- Contextualization of the work (quality of references, diversity of knowledge);
- Quality of achievements.
Admission into cycle 2
Before obtaining their bachelor’s degree, students who wish to continue their studies at the master’s level at isdaT must appear before an admissions committee. The committee makes its decision based on a written description of the student’s research project and portfolio. A third-year student may appear before one or more graduate admissions committees, regardless of the option chosen in the first cycle. They may also appear before the equivalency and admissions committees of other schools in order to find a program that matches their background and ambitions.
Find out more about cycle 2 art.
Courses catalog
All information concerning the course programme and timetables can be found on the dedicated Art, design and graphic design courses catalog website (in French).
Staff
Administrative staff
Art, design, and graphic design studies director
David Mozziconacci
david.mozziconacci@isdat.fr
Department secretary
Bettina Mellet and Fabrice Matéo
+33 (0)5 31 47 11 95
+33 (0)5 31 47 11 94
bettina.mellet@isdat.fr
fabrice.mateo@isdat.fr
Educational staff
Lists and biographies of professors and teaching assistants.
