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The Principality’s school of art has made a name for itself among its peers, with its specialism of set design.

 

Pavillon Bosio, located on the Rocher, began life as a school of drawing and then of fine arts, finally becoming the Monaco Art School (École Supérieure d’Arts Plastiques, ESAP), officially opened by the royal family on 25 July 1969. The building that houses it was constructed on the site of the former Hôtel-Dieu – the hospital opened by Honoré V was moved out of the Monaco-Ville district in the twentieth century. The school’s name is a tribute to François-Joseph Bosio. Born in Monaco in 1768, this neoclassical sculptor and official artist during the First French Empire and the Restoration is known for his busts of Louis XIV and Napoleon, as well as his sculpture of Hercules, which is exhibited at the Louvre.

Alongside its courses leading to higher education qualifications, Monaco Art School works to broaden awareness of the visual arts for a wide audience. “It is a state-run higher education institute for the visual arts. It awards internationally recognised bachelor’s and master’s degrees. It is housed in a magnificent building, a true gem that sits atop the Rocher facing the Mediterranean,” explains Thierry Leviez, Director of Pavillon Bosio. Emerging artists Eva Medin, winner of the Amis du Palais de Tokyo Prize 2019–2020, and Jérémy Griffaud, who took part in the Artpress Biennale, both trained at Pavillon Bosio.

What makes the programme offered at Pavillon Bosio unique is the multidisciplinary training in art and set design that it offers students. The school runs Research and Creation Workshops (Ateliers de Recherche et de Création, ARCs) in stage design, live art design, exhibition design and ceramics, and also participates in partner projects. Like the Ballets Russes in the early twentieth century, Pavillon Bosio maintains a dialogue between visual arts and performance arts. Monaco Art School has therefore formed partnerships with the Ballets de Monte-Carlo and the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco (NMNM). This has resulted in an annual performance at the Ballets de Monte-Carlo Studios, which brings together a group of student set designers with dancers and choreographers. Through this unique collaboration, students from Monaco Art School have the opportunity to try out a set design on a stage.

Pavillon Bosio regularly holds exhibitions of work by graduates or former students, as well as symposiums and opportunities to meet renowned artists. It is now issuing a collection of books devoted entirely to set design, published by Manuella Editions, a French publishing house that specialises in the arts. “The aim is to produce a reference collection on set design, and to promote the art school’s research more widely, beyond Monaco,” says Thierry Leviez. The first books focus on models, which often lie at the heart of artistic practice, and on fashion scenography.

Find more: https://pavillonbosio.com

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