The French Public Higher Schools of Art

Caen

École supérieure d’arts & médias de Caen-Cherbourg | Caen

about

The Caen/Cherbourg Higher School of Art and Media is a Public Institution for Cultural Cooperation (EPCC) under the joint supervision of the Urban Community of Caen la mer, the town of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, the Ministry of Culture and Communication and the Normandy Region. It originated in the merger of the Caen Higher School of Art and Media and the Cherbourg-Octeville Higher School of Fine Arts.
Caen/Cherbourg esam welcomes almost 300 students on its two campuses in the disciplinary fields of Fine Arts and Graphic Design:
– Premises in a new building designed by the studioMilou cabinet that opened its doors in October 2009 on the Caen peninsula;
– Entirely renovated premises that opened their doors in October 2011 in the former maritime hospital of Cherbourg.

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Bibliothèque site de Cherbourg, photo Julie Laisney - École supérieure d'arts & médias de Caen-Cherbourg
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DNSEP 2012, photo Michèle Gottstein - École supérieure d'arts & médias de Caen-Cherbourg
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DNSEP 2012, photo Michèle Gottstein - École supérieure d'arts & médias de Caen-Cherbourg
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options

Art
Design

qualifications

DNA  option Art
DNA  option Design mention design graphique
DNSEP  option Art
DNSEP  option Design mention éditions

preparatory schools

ésam Caen/Cherbourg preparatory class

In October of 2012/2013, ésam Caen/Cherbourg opened a public preparatory class with the intention of preparing students for entrance competitions to French Higher Art Schools, the first of its kind in the Northwest of France. This preparatory class has a central aim: to create the conditions for successful entry to French Higher Schools of Art. Teaching is ensured by visual artists and theoreticians from the school. It is a pedagogical space which welcomes students aged between 17 and 25, who have passed their baccalauréat and functions in quite intensive conditions. The preparatory class of ésam Caen/Cherbourg allows the students to confirm their choice, to comprehend the issues around education in a school of art and gain access to higher education through different forms of experimentation, thinking and confrontation. The students engaged in the curriculum commit to passing four entrance exams to optimize their chances of success.

research units

publications

Catalogues, artist books, artists’ writings

activities and events

– « Conférences de la presqu’île »: lecture cycles proposed by teachers from ésam Caen/Cherbourg linked to different options and mentions in the school – open to everyone, Wednesdays at 6p.m. In the auditorium of Caen campus.
– « XXe siècle etc. »: a cycle of art history lectures proposed in partnership with the Basse-Normandie FRAC and the Artothèque of Caen.
– « Impressions multiples » trade fair: a gathering of independent publishers (multiples and prints by artists, graphic and typographic trials, electronic and sound publications, micro-publishing) proposed within the framework of the Passages de témoins festival.
– “Interstice – rencontre des inclassables” Festival: dedicated to the practices of international visual artists and musicians that questions the intermedia relationships of sound/image/object/space.
– Graduate exhibitions: work done by the DNSEP (“A suivre…”), DNAT and honors graduates.
– Temporary shows and exhibitions proposed in partnership with local cultural structures (the Nordik Impact festival, the Boréales festival, the Caen/Normandie National Center for Choreography, the Comédie of Caen, the Theater of Caen, etc.)

post-curricular or extracurricular activities

Weekly workshops and an introduction to artistic practice for children, teenagers and adults; visual arts activities in schools.

international cooperation

ésam Caen/Cherbourg has been running a programme of international cooperation and exchanges for over 30 years : joint workshops and exhibitions, residency programs, field trips, student and staff mobility…

The school holds bilateral agreements with the following institutions :

Erasmus+ :
Fachhochschule Mannheim, Germany
Fachhochschule Münster, Germany
Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach am Main, Germany
Muthesius Kunsthochschule in Kiel, Germany
Plymouth College of Art, United Kingdom
University of the Arts London – Wimbledon College of Art, United Kingdom
Ecole de Recherche Graphique de Bruxelles, Belgium
St Cyril and St Methodius University of Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria
Escola d’Art i Superior de Disseny Ondara Tarrega, Spain
Budapest Metropolitan University of Applied Sciences, Hungary
Hungarian University of Fine Arts, Hungary
University of Ulster, United Kingdom
Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna, Italia
Latvijas Makslas akademia, Latvia
Vilnius Academy of Arts, Lithuania
Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Macedonia
Bergen Academy of Art and Design, Norway
Akademia Sztuk Pieknych Warszaw, Poland
Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Turkey

Others :
Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Canada
Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced learning, Canada
University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA
Maryland Institute College of Art, USA
Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath College of Fine Arts, India
Universidad Internacional, Mexico
Ural State Academy of Architecture and Arts, Russia
Ecole cantonale d’art du Valais, Switzerland

gallery

A large (200m2) exhibition gallery located on Caen campus that hosts exhibitions of school graduates in addition to other exhibitions by artists from outside of the school, programmed in the framework of cultural partnerships.

specific equipment

Technical workshops:
– Volume section: wood workshops; metal workshops, in which cutting and welding, folding, forging, casting are done; a resin and plastics workshop.
– Ceramics section: workshops allowing students to explore a multitude of ceramics techniques (molding, modeling, turning, casting, enameling and tin glazing, raku, stoneware, reduction and oxidized baking)
– Print section: engraving workshops in soft carving, xylography, aquatint, screen-printing workshops with a number of print tables; lithography and photolithography workshop.
– Publishing section: printer allowing wood-typography, lead typography, offset and digital.
– Photography section: film developing laboratory, black and white and color printing workshops, including one for large formats; a shooting studio; a digital photography workshop.
– Video section: video editing spaces, film studio equipped with a cyclo for embedding
– Sound section: sound studio equipped with a voice recording studio; sound editing spaces
– Computer and multimedia section: computer room for classes, digital workshops in typography, layout, multimedia, animation and virtual 3D.

Libraries: The libraries located on each of the two campuses of ésam Caen/Cherbourg provide up a fund of references and resources for visual and contemporary art from the 20th century to today, that is to say over 27,000 documents in printed form (monographs, exhibition catalogues, essays) audiovisual documents (CD-Audio, DVD, CD-Rom), periodicals (art reviews, French and international graphic design reviews).

Student workshops: workshops with an area of 100 and 200m2 allow each student to benefit from an adapted workspace within the school throughout the year so as to imagine and carry out their personal projects. The pedagogical exhibition spaces allow them to present their work in professional conditions during evaluations or when passing degrees.

A 250 seater auditorium with a 12×11m plateau.

networks

The school is a member of several networks :
– Normandie Université (Normandy higher education institutes)

– ANdEA (national association of higher schools of arts)
– Art Accord France (French association for art schools international coordinators)
– ELIA (European League of Institute of the Arts)

administrative team

Arnaud Stinès Director
Samuel Weddle Administrator
Brice Giacalone Studies and Research
France Jacquel-Blanc International relations
Julie Laisney Communication and Cultural Activites
Pierre Aubert Library

professors

Deepak Ananth
Juliet Bates
Christophe Bouder
Laurent Buffet
Simonetta Cargioli
Paul Collins
Muriel Couteau
David Dronet
Céline Duval
Sarah Fouquet
Nicolas Germain
Benjamin Hochart
David K’Dual
Alice Laguarda
Myriam Mechita
Jean-Jacques Passera
Michaël Quemener
Maxence Rifflet
Tanya Rodgers
Alexandre Rolla
Françoise Schein
Phil Stephens
Pierre Tatu
Maxime Thieffine
Didier Tirard
Thierry Weyd
Emmanuel Zwenger

contact

Caen campus [headquarters]:
17 cours Caffarelli 14000 | Caen
Cherbourg campus:
61 rue de l’abbaye 50100 | Cherbourg-en-Cotentin
tél. +33 (0)2 14 37 25 00
fax +33 (0)2 14 37 25 01
info@esam-c2.fr
http://www.esam-c2.fr
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students

300 students