Call for applications: Master of Arts in Public Spheres (MAPS)

The MAPS program
The MAPS – Arts in Public Spheres Master is a 2-year research-based study program in the visual arts that consider how art addresses different publics, the nature of public participation and collaborative production, and critical analysis of space.

The MAPS works as practical and theoretical context for considering the public sphere in a pluri-disciplinary perspective. It combines a focus on the students’ artistic practice and research, with weekly seminars, individual and collective interventions in public space, individual tutorials and study trips.

A unique studying environment
Located in the Valais region of Switzerland, the striking natural environment and its post-industrial location, away from the major urban centres, provide an ideal site for detailed on-the-ground studies in: environmental and land art, socially-engaged and community projects, site-specific artistic and curatorial interventions in the public space, critical ecologies, research practice, reflections on art labour.

A networking school
MAPS – Arts in Public Spheres is part of Master of Arts HES-SO in Fine Arts, a program that has been designed around three sites: the Haute Ecole d’Art du Valais (ECAV) in Sierre, the Haute Ecole d’Art et de Design in Geneva (HEAD) and the Ecole Cantonale d’Art in Lausanne (ECAL) and is an integral part of the “Swiss Master in Fine Arts Platform,” a national collaborative program involving all the Swiss art schools.

In addition to this, the school has developed several international exchange programs to allow students to experiment with the influences of different environments on their personal work. We favour an international working group.

Teaching guidances
The MAPS – Arts in Public Spheres program offers 120 ECTS credits. It is a two-year course with classes two days a week. The MAPS faculty comes from a multidisciplinary and international background.

The structure of the program is organized to combine seminars and workshops led by artists, theoreticians and curators, with visits to exhibitions and events of interest, and the development of individual and collective exhibition projects. Students thus devote 60–70% of their formation time to their own work and are supervised by two tutors throughout the course. The final stage of the program is focused on the Masters Thesis and Exhibition.

Individual work, meetings and exchanges with artists and professionals from the art world constitute an important part of the course. Workshops equipped with computers and other technical equipment are easily available, as well as exhibition spaces.

Faculty
Benoît Antille, Barnaby Drabble, Christopher Füllemann, Petra Köhle, Robert Ireland, Jérôme Leuba, Eric Maeder, Federica Martini, Anne-Julie Raccoursier, Aurélie Strumans

Information
Deadline for application: April 10, 2018
Selection interviews: May 7-8, 2018

Required qualification: Bachelor’s diploma and/or equivalent training and experience.

Languages: French and English

Study fees: CHF 1000 per year plus material costs CHF 700

Admission conditions, precise dates, registration forms, study plans and timetables can be consulted and downloaded on the ECAV website.