© HEAD – Genève, Jimmy Roura
Fine Arts
Teaching methods are designed as closely as possible to artistic practice and geared towards an interdisciplinary approach and artistic experiences on a 1:1 scale.
image © Michel Giesbrecht,  HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
© Michel Giesbrecht, HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
The Fine Arts Department includes five BA majors and three MA course choices. It also offers a set of demanding theory courses and specialised interdisciplinary courses as well as an intense programme of conferences, symposia and readings, a series of off-site projects, commissions and partnerships, an exhibition space and a publishing programme of artists’ books. Every day, this major art education programme in Switzerland is brought to life thanks to some 300 students, 50+ teachers – artists, theorists, curators – and numerous international guests.
image © Zoé Aubry,  HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
© Zoé Aubry, HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
The Fine Arts Department includes five BA majors and three MA course choices. It also offers a set of demanding theory courses and specialised interdisciplinary courses as well as an intense programme of conferences, symposia and readings, a series of off-site projects, commissions and partnerships, an exhibition space and a publishing programme of artists’ books. Every day, this major art education programme in Switzerland is brought to life thanks to some 300 students, 50+ teachers – artists, theorists, curators – and numerous international guests.
image © Michel Giesbrecht,  HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
© Michel Giesbrecht, HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
BA in Fine Arts
This BA degree is a progressive programme where you will be called upon to question your intentions and develop your artistic practice, while acquiring a solid theoretical and technical background. Workshops in painting, drawing, object and installation production and a ceramic skills centre will offer you an inventive teaching experience, as close as possible to the hybrid practices of contemporary artists. The presence of teachers/artists, curators and theorists, fosters the progressive emergence of strong and original positions.
Useful information
Admission requirements: Graduation from upper secondary school and successful completion of the entrance exam

Registration deadline: 5 March 2024

Fees, excluding costs: CHF 575 per semester

Duration: 6 semesters

Credits: 180ECTS

Professional prospects: freelance artist, artistic director, cultural interpreter, curator, art critic, teacher, researcher, performer, stage manager, scenographer, video maker

image © Michel Giesbrecht,  HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
© Michel Giesbrecht, HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
image © HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
© HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
Appropria­tion Major:
Images, Documents, Publishing
Teaching in the Appropriation major addresses publishing as a mirror of artistic practice. Work in the workshop is not limited to any specific medium and favours the exploratory dimension of artistic forms. It focuses on a critical approach to visual culture and the circulation of images by working on different forms: traditional or experimental, two- or three-dimensional, paper or digital…
image © Raphaëlle Mueller,  HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
© Raphaëlle Mueller, HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
Construction Major:
Sculpture, Objects, Installa­tions
Construction offers a cross-disciplinary approach to sculpture and fosters extremely diversified approaches that may include text, performance and sound. The programme combines the production of works in workshops with external projects such as exhibitions, works in the public space, events and publications. By associating conceptual contributions with practical experimentation, students gradually develop their work in all its dimensions, artistic, cultural and political.
image © Raphaëlle Mueller,  HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
© Raphaëlle Mueller, HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
image © Raphaëlle Mueller,  HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
© Raphaëlle Mueller, HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
Information / Fiction Major:
Photography, Video, Media
With photography and video as the main tools, this programme invites students to engage with the world, to carry out projects in situ and to reflect on ways of showcasing these projects to the public. The exploration of contemporary realities may involve fiction, documentary, field survey, archival work or intervention on social networks.
image © Jordan Mokou,  HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
© Jordan Mokou, HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
[Inter]action Major:
Perfor­mances, Writing, Digital Practices
This programme focuses on time-based arts, the place of the audience and propinquity with other fields including performing arts, sound art and digital practices. Operating as a laboratory, the programme is based on experimentation with “materials” such as voice and body, video, sound, image, text and computer codes. Art students are encouraged to develop their approach by working closely within a specific context or situation, either historical, social or cultural.
image © Jordan Mokou,  HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
© Jordan Mokou, HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
image © HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
© HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
Representation Major:
Painting and Drawing
The Representation major focuses on painting, drawing and installations. Teaching is centred on the individual approach of each student and develops in a custom-made and flowing relationship. While giving students plenty of autonomy, the work dynamic focuses on dialogue and the regular presence of students and teachers in the studios. Workshops, trips and collective experiences complete the teaching programme, which also includes specific support for the creation of quality portfolios.
image © HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
© HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
Work.Master
Contempo­rary Artistic Practices
The primary aim of this MA degree is to offer you spaces – both physical and conceptual – that will enable you to develop and deepen your practice as an artist, without distinction of means, media or aesthetics. Work in the workshop is at the heart of the programme: you will be both autonomous and supervised with regular meetings with teachers and guest artists. This will give you the opportunity to develop your artistic research, while benefiting from the school’s facilities – technical workshops, audio-visual shops, library and exhibition room.
Useful information
Admission requirements: BA degree and successful completion of the entrance exam

Registration deadline: 25 March 2024

Fees, excluding costs: CHF 575 per semester

Duration: 4 semesters

Credits: 120ECTS

Professional prospects: freelance artist, artistic director, cultural interpreter, curator, art critic, teacher, researcher, performer, stage manager, scenographer, video maker

image © HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
© HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
image © Claudia Ndebele,  HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
© Claudia Ndebele, HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
Master CCC
Research-based MA Programme
Master CCC – critical, curatorial, cybernetic, conceptual and cross-cultural practices – is a transdisciplinary research programme. It helps develop new vocabularies in order to reflect on the social and political issues of a changing world.
Useful information
Admission requirements: BA degree and successful completion of the entrance exam

Registration deadline: 25 March 2024

Fees, excluding costs: CHF 575 per semester

Duration: 4 semesters

Credits: 120ECTS

Professional prospects: freelance artist, artistic director, cultural interpreter, curator, art critic, teacher, researcher, performer, stage manager, scenographer, video maker

image © HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
© HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
Master TRANS
Socially Engaged Artistic Practices
If you are looking to commit your artistic approach to public life, if you see art as a possible vector for social transformation, if in your mind collective and teaching methods fully participate in the creative process, then you will be able to develop all these avenues of work within the context of the TRANS MA programme. The TRANS MA defends a conscious, ethical and problematised approach to artistic work in a social context. In particular, it is based on alternative, critical and feminist teachings or on the concepts of trans-pedagogy, eco-pedagogy and care ethics.
Useful information
Admission requirements: BA degree and successful completion of the entrance exam

Registration deadline: 25 March 2024

Fees, excluding costs: CHF 575 per semester

Duration: 4 semesters

Credits: 120ECTS

Professional prospects: freelance artist, artistic director, cultural interpreter, curator, art critic, teacher, researcher, performer, stage manager, scenographer, video maker

image © HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
© HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
Fancies, de Viola Leddi, MA Arts visuels, Work Master 2022

Prix de la Fondation Théodore Strawinsky 2022, Prix HEAD Galerie Pace 2022. Photo © HEAD – Genève
Fancies, de Viola Leddi, MA Arts visuels, Work Master  2022
Fan 2, de Oelia Gouret, MA Arts visuels, Work Master  2022
I THOUGHT YOU WERE REAL, BUT YOU CALLED ME BOURGEOIS, de Sara Bissen, MA Arts visuels, orientation CCC
Another day at the well stacjedk pizza Co, de Benjamin Spera, BA Arts visuels Information Fiction
Let me break the ice, de Emy Curty et Zelita Robi, BA Arts visuels, [Inter]action
Tel un organisme mutant, entre corps et architecture, de Lou Revel, BA Arts visuels, Construction
The meetings with the various lecturers brought me a lot. The evaluation system, with no grades, in participatory discussion sessions, is very stimulating. Collective work and reflection are encouraged.
Isabel Guerrero, 35, TRANS MA graduate, 2018
Fine Arts at HEAD – Genève
Alternate Take 1 Exhibition and Opening of the new LiveInYourHead Exhibition Space
"A Storyteller, Disorder and Promises of Cure" by Thomas Omondi Obiero, Master in Fine Arts – CCC
HES-SO 2020 Excellence Award for Design and Fine Arts

Join us

image © Zoé Aubry,  HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
© Zoé Aubry, HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
Apply online
image © Samy Bouard Cart,  HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
© Samy Bouard Cart, HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
image © Aurélien Fontanet,  HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
© Aurélien Fontanet, HEAD ⁠–⁠ Genève
© 2022 HEAD – Genève, Geneva University of Art and Design