[ÉESI] FOR A EUROPEAN SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS

Resulting from a joint decision by Angoulême and Poitiers to unite their resources and create a regional school, EESI is subsidised by the Ministry of Culture and Communication, the Regional Council of Poitou-Charentes and the two municipalities that host its facilities.
The school prepares students for the French equivalent of the BFA (the three-year Diplôme National d’Arts Plastiques) and MFA (the Diplôme Supérieur d’Expression Plastique). The three disciplines offered by its Art option – comic art, digital art, emerging practices – put the emphasis on exploring the relations between thought, criticism, the production of visual works and research. In partnership with University of Poitiers, two master’s degrees – comic art, interactive arts – complete EESI’s offer.
The pedagogical project is implemented by a team of theoreticians and artist-teachers, accompanied by assistants, media librarians and technicians, all involved in various aspects of the contemporary arts. Perspectives are further broadened by workshops, seminars, lectures and visits by outside professionals and experts.
EESI is especially attentive to the relations that students develop with the art world(s). That is why students are encouraged to travel and to work with established artists or in cultural institutions, and to participate in local and international events and festivals. Every day, EESI’s partnerships – Confort Moderne, Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain, Cité Internationale de la Bande Dessinée et de l’Image, KHM, CalArts, etc. – help open up new perspectives, new ways of bringing together theory and practice, research and art, and finding and transgressing new frontiers.
By encouraging experiment and awareness of new developments in all the arts (music, cinema, literature, the performing arts, etc.), as well as the dialogue with other fields of knowledge (science, cultural studies, human sciences), the different components of the EESI teaching programme, from the first degree to the postgradute program on Documents and Contemporary Art, offer students and budding artists an environment and resources to learn and produce.

Sabrina Grassi-Fossier