Lectures “Preserving the history and herit­age of design schools”

This is a crucial ques­­tion, partic­u­larly for renowned schools such as ÉCAL/Univer­­s­ity of Art and Design Lausanne and HEAD – Genève, Geneva Univer­­s­ity of Art and Design, which play a major role both locally and inter­­n­a­­tion­ally. Heirs to a rich indus­trial past, these schools are at the heart of the design scene in French-speak­­ing Switzer­­­land, each with a strong, distinc­t­ive iden­tity that informs the aesthetic and concep­tual propos­als of its students.

It there­­fore seems essen­­tial to exam­ine how to archive the iden­tity of these schools and the projects of the students who attend them. It remains to be seen whether certain insti­tu­­tions have already adop­ted such prac­­tices or whether they need to be developed in order to preserve this herit­age.

Round-table discus­­sions will bring together the direct­ors and teach­ers of these higher educa­­tion insti­tu­­tions, as well as those from voca­­tional schools such as EDHEA (the Valais School of Art) and CEPV (Vevey Profes­­sional Teach­ing Centre), to shed light on the current state of design and applied arts teach­ing and its future prospects. Finally, a lecture on the indus­trial past of these schools will provide a better under­­stand­ing of the links between their past history, their current situ­a­tion, and future prospects.

• Lecture by Benoît Versace, Professor of Design Culture at IPAC Design in Geneva.
• Round-table discus­sion led by Tim Meylan, co-coordin­ator of the Graphic Designer CFC / MP course and teacher of Graphic Designer CFC / MP at the Ecole de design et haute école d’art du Valais (édhéa).
• Round table discus­sion moder­ated by Alexis Geor­ga­co­poulos, Director, Camille Blin, Head of the Product Design Master’s programme, Vincent Jacquier, Head of the Visual Commu­nic­a­tion Bach­el­or’s programme and Davide Forn­ari, Head of Applied Research & Devel­op­ment.
• Round table moder­ated by Lada Umstät­ter, Director, Alexia Math­ieu, Head of the Media Design Master’s programme and Alex­an­dra Midal, Professor of History and Theory of Design.
• Round table moder­ated by Nicole Schneider, Director of the ICDP Master­stu­dio Design and Indus­trial Design, Werner Baum­hakl, Director of the ICDP Insti­tute and Head of the BA Indus­tria Design programme – (Speak­ers from the Basel School of Design) and by Jacqueline Holzer, Director, Jan-Chris­toph Zoels, Head of the Master of Arts in Design – (Speak­ers from the Lucerne School of Design, Film and Art).