The history of the Geneva University of Art and Design (HEAD – Genève) reflects the transformations in European art education. Founded in 1748 as the School of Drawing to support the Fabrique, the institution split in the 19th century into two branches: the School of Fine Arts (1897) and the School of Industrial Arts (1876). It was during the 20th century and the last fifty years that it underwent its most profound pedagogical and epistemological revolutions.
Before the contemporary era, the School of Fine Arts was shaped by leading figures of Swiss modernism. Ferdinand Hodler, who began as a private student of Barthélemy Menn, taught there, profoundly influencing generations of painters. During this academic period, the institution trained future masters of spatial design, such as the modernist architect and designer Pierre Jeanneret, who graduated from the school before becoming the right-hand man and close collaborator of his cousin Le Corbusier. Academic masters such as the sculptor James Vibert and the painter Eugène Gilliard thus anchored the school in a solid tradition of sculpture and painting.
The trajectory shifted after May 1968. In 1977, the École supérieure d’art visuel (ESAV) replaced the Beaux-Arts, marking a break with the past by eliminating grades and breaking down disciplinary barriers. At the heart of this transformation were the artist couple Silvie and Chérif Defraoui. As early as 1976, they founded the “Mixed Media” studio there, a pioneering program in Switzerland that introduced video, installation, and performance art. By structuring their teaching around the concept of “Archives of the Future,” the Defraouis shifted the focus from mere technical mastery to a critical reflection on the status of the image.
This academic freedom fosters the emergence of an internationally renowned art scene.
Graduates of the Defraoui studio include Francis Baudevin, Carmen Perrin, Emmanuelle Antille, and Marie José Burki; more broadly, figures in contemporary art such as John M. Armleder, Christian Marclay, and Fabrice Gygi studied there, as did filmmaker Alain Tanner and comic book artists Zep and Frederik Peeters.
In 2006, the merger of the ESBA and the HEAA gave rise to HEAD – Genève, which is affiliated with the HES-SO. This institutional merger has made it possible to integrate art and design. Under the successive leadership of Jean-Pierre Greff (2007–2022) and then Lada Umstätter beginning in 2023, HEAD streamlined its infrastructure by relocating to a unified urban campus in Les Charmilles, renovating historic, listed industrial buildings (Hispano-Suiza, Tavaro).