Tons of ideas in the back of your head

Go to the center of Geneva, in the Les Charilles district. Here, at the southern end of Lake Geneva, it is possible to observe nature creating one of its most beautiful European structures: The Rhône. But as fascinating as it is, this show is not the object of our trip. Just behind us stands another symbol of Geneva creativity: HEAD, the Geneva University of Art and Design. An institution with methods based on research and experimentation, for which the codes of higher education are just waiting to be redefined.

HEAD is certainly the descendant of two classical art schools, but it did not want to inherit their teaching method. According to the management, training at this institution is synonymous withan apprenticeship “to the test of reality”. A nice formula, which deserves a little attention. To describe this philosophy, Anthony Masure, associate professor and head of research at HEAD explains the school's aim: “to make sure that students take the plunge.” He continues: “We have been working at scale 1 from the first year. Here, each practical case is a real project responding to a client's request, and which comes to life at the end of the year.”

Thus, those who roam the Swiss roads were able to meet the hydrogen-powered heavy trucks from the “GoH! - Generation of Hydrogen” whose visual identity was entirely created by first-year students in the Bachelor of Visual Communication. And those who, instead of taking the road, stayed behind to party, certainly came across the Paléo festival posters, which were also “designed” by the students.

Several advantages come from this confrontation between customers and students. At the educational level, as Anthony Masure said, this throws students “into the big picture”, since students are no longer accountable to a teacher as in traditional courses, but directly to a client. For the client company, using students can be much more prolific than expected, as a less experienced point of view is often the source of unexpected creative angles.

A virtuous circle therefore, for students and partner companies. This beautiful mechanism also benefits the general public, who, if they are curious, can find the work of HEAD students in every corner of the city, through a poster, the window of a store, or one of the events organized by the school.

When we talk about culture in Geneva, we often mention its grand theater, or the Ariana Museum. But in the middle of these ancestral places, HEAD is doing well by injecting a new artistic dynamic into the city. Anthony Masure declares that “the school is a cultural center in Geneva”. Each year, a hundred events are organized there: exhibitions, conferences, round tables and even fashion shows, one of the specialties of the house.

Because if Geneva does not have its Fashion Week, it does have the HEAD fashion show. Organized every year within the school, this show presents the collections of fashion students. A real show that is nothing like an end-of-year celebration, Anthony Masure affirms: “It is a recognized event in the fashion world, which attracts nearly 2,000 visitors per edition”. From Bachelor to Master, all students in the field lend themselves to the exercise, measuring, once again, their work by the test of reality.

For those who prefer discussions to podiums, HEAD has got you covered, since school is also a place for debate. Every month, Talking HEADS are held, public conferences where personalities of contemporary creation are invited: artists, designers, architects, critics, filmmakers or authors are invited to share their experience. These conversations often revolve around topics of the future, and how art and creation can advance our society. But before transforming the world around them, art and design must innovate themselves, a process that involves research, the third facet of HEAD.

In addition to being a school and a place for cultural events, HEAD is a research institute in art and design, of which Anthony Masure is the manager. Asked about the contours of his discipline, he explains: “Design concerns all the physical or digital objects that surround us. The creation of these requires various complex processes with several factors to take into account: economic, ergonomic, environmental, or other. Design research is about finding a way to improve these processes, rethinking the object, and finally improving the world around us.” In short, it is a multidisciplinary field where knowledge is combined to design better.

At HEAD, these research projects are created at the initiative of the teaching staff, after which a team coordinates and administratively supports each of them. This proximity between teaching and research ensures a permanent exchange that gradually integrates Master's students into a research dynamic. This lays the foundations for the opening of a future course within the school, a doctorate-type course, where those who seek to shape the future of their discipline can flourish.

Through its three facets, HEAD demonstrates, in three different ways, that confrontation with reality is an extremely powerful tool in learning, and that know-how and thinking skills are not only two well-compatible concepts, but can be the pillars of a pedagogy that provides the critical tools necessary to understand the contemporary world.