20 Nov 2014

Opening of the Institut des hautes études en arts plastiques (Iheap) in New York City in Fall 2015

Opening of the Institut des hautes études en arts plastiques (Iheap) in New York City in Fall 2015

The Institut des hautes études en arts plastiques (Iheap) is a graduate institute for research and experimentation in art. It is the educational branch of the Biennale de Paris. The Institute was created in 1985 by the City of Paris, in reference to the Bauhaus and Black Mountain College, and as an alternative to the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. It lapsed in 1995.

In 2012, compelled by its history, experiences and specificities, the Biennale de Paris opted to open a new Institut des hautes études en arts plastiques (Iheap) in accordance with its own modus operandi—which occasionally consists of reactivating lapsed or abandoned institutions. Drawing on the original model, the new Iheap conserved its name, intentions, idea of a simple structure, necessity for transversality and orality, and strong international dimension. The current form was conceived and developed by Alexandre Gurita and Jean-Baptiste Farkas, in conjunction with several key collaborators.

Iheap's course of study offers participants - known as sessionists - the opportunity to liberate themselves from the inherited history of 20th Century art; instead, it proposes inquiry into the crucial issues of art in the 21st Century, a history in the process of being written and in which sessionists might eventually take part.

Iheap's program cultivates 'invisual' and 'subtractive' practices that become inscribed in subtle ways into daily life. Iheap is interested in 'acting out'; in artistic practices that develop alternative economies to the art market; in strategy applied to the field of culture; in the revision of artistic terminology; and in the notions of expenditure and the necessary.

Iheap is a liquid school that moves and composes itself within a multitude of environments. Each class takes place at a different location. The program, which is completed in two years (one session), consists of two full days per week of classes combining theory and practice. It confers a Post-Diploma.

Iheap will open its doors in New York in September 2015 with Session XI, titled 'Economies - Can artistic practice produce viable economies outside of the art market?'. Not purporting to come to New York with readymade answers, Iheap wishes rather to engender the conditions for substantive debate on a topic crucial to both the United States and the world. Iheap has chosen to locate itself in New York due to the city's dynamism; character as a world city; and various existing structures that are extremely open to experimentation, innovation and risk, with which the Institute has worked. The Institute has found much support from individuals based in New York, some of whom will figure in its American pedagogical team. Emma McCormick-Goodhart will direct Iheap - New York.

Tuition is 9000 US Dollars for two years of study. The period for application commences on November 18, 2014, and closes on March 1, 2015.

Iheap - New York has several advantages guiding its development in the United States:
The first French school of art to open outside of France
The least expensive school of art in New York
The first Post-Diploma to be delivered in the United States
The possibility for students to actively engage in exchanges, or 'residencies abroad', between New York and Paris.

The hope is that Iheap - New York will, in its own way, reinforce contemporary French-American relations, as well as the historical links between these two singular cities, which have each played a key role in shaping the History of Art.

Institut des hautes études en arts plastiques (Iheap)
Emma McCormick-Goodhart
Director New York
US +1 301 281 3082
FR +33 6 51 10 83 80
direction.new-york@iheap.fr
iheap.fr