Since 2009, I’m lecturer at The HEAD, Geneva University of Art and Design, where I initiated a publishing course and the artist’s book series Hard Copy. These editions are produced in collaboration with Barbara Fedier and various departments of the schools, as well as Swiss graphic designers. This position also involves thesis supervision and organising events in relation to Hard Copy. The first seven edition were released in 2010, with a talk with Seth Siegelaub, Daniel McClean and Dexter Sinister, and reading performance by the artists at LiYH in Geneva. The talks can be heard back on the Laptop Radio website.

WORK.MASTER is addressed to students-artists who wish to broaden and develop their practical work within a framework which promotes a transversal approach, multiple perspectives and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Combining research and artistic practice (individual, collaborative or collective), the programme is structured around the realisation of full-scale personal projects.

The programme gives students the opportunity to contextualise their work through real life artistic interventions (in the public space, exhibitions, publications, radio programmes…). For WORK.MASTER, art is above all “in action”.

Discussions and debates examine the historical, social and intellectual conditions of artistic action in tutorials (on a one-to-one basis), lab.zones (thematic group projects), seminars (and theory based projects), critical sessions (collective critics) and further offers on a swiss-wide level (master-platform and pool-CH).

Each student receives a strong artistic and theoretical tutorial support. Regular meetings and studio visits give the possibillity for an on-going dialogue, a continous feedback on the work in progress.

WORK.MASTER provides an international platform in which invited artists, theorists and curators of different fields propose lab.zones and seminars. The lab.zones may be organised in periodical meetings or intensive workshops, allowing the contextualisation of the student’s work. They give the opportunity to the participants engage in various forms of public interactions such as performance, art interventions in public space, exhibitions, publications and radio.

The critical sessions are weekly meetings, group critics. They offer a forum to reflect and analyse each others’ practise and to invent modes of presentation. During these sessions, updates of researches are presented and discussed, sharing ideas by making them available to others.

Coordination
Laurent Schmid, head of the programme, Christian Besson and Marie-Antoinette Chiarenza, professors, Ceel Mogami de Haas and Marion Tampon-Lajarriette, assistants.

Professors / Contributors
Delphine Bedel (artiste et curatrice, Amsterdam), Yann Chateigné (curateur et critique, Genève), Mathieu Copeland (curateur et éditeur, Londres), Lili Reynaud Dewar (artiste, Paris), Lina Saneh (metteur en scène et comédienne, Beyrouth), Samuel Gross (curateur, Genève), Christophe Kihm (critique, Paris), Pierre Leguillon (artiste, Paris), Valérie Mavridorakis (critique, Genève), Markus Miessen (architecte et théoricien, Berlin / Londres), Mai-Thu Perret (artiste, Genève), Daniel Suter (curateur et artiste, Berne), Frédéric Wecker (philosophe et critique, Paris)

Collaborations
The three majors of the Masters programme at Head – Geneva are constituents of the Masters HES-SO in Fine Arts which also offers two other majors at Ecal – Lausanne (EAE – European Art Ensemble) and at Ecav – Sierre (MAPS – Art in the Public Sphere). In addition, they are incorporated into the Master- platform.ch which brings together the different Masters in Fine Arts of Swiss universities.

HEAD, Geneva University of Art and Design
Work.Master