HEAR (Haute Ecole des Arts du Rhin)

The Haute école des arts du Rhin (HEAR) was created in January 2011 through the merger of the École supérieure des arts décoratifs de Strasbourg (ESADS), the École supérieure d’art de Mulhouse (Le Quai), and the higher music studies of the Strasbourg Conservatory, forming a single higher education institution dedicated to the arts.

The École supérieure d’art de Mulhouse was founded in 1825 by the Société industrielle de Mulhouse as a drawing school applied to the textile industry, and in 1945 became the Municipal School of Fine Arts. Today, HEAR in Mulhouse awards degrees in Art, Design, and Textile Design.

The Art option at the Mulhouse visual arts campus, known as “Le Plateau,” brings together different forms of teaching around a shared project, enabling and encouraging each student’s singular path. While no specific technical specialization or medium is privileged, photography, painting, sculpture, intermedia practices, sound art, video, scenography, and exhibition practices all share a common focus on experimenting with space as a central artistic concern.

This research is developed within an original framework that provides a range of adaptable spaces, including a large open platform, movable walls, and specialized equipment. It is also supported by substantial resources and the dedicated teaching of the SONIC workshop, devoted to sound practices.

Students at HEAR in Mulhouse have access to technical workshops—laser cutting and engraving, printmaking, graphic design, woodworking, analog and digital photography, silkscreen printing and publishing, sound, video, 3D printing, and more—where they can explore or deepen an exceptional range of practices alongside specialized technicians and assistants.

The school trains authors and creators across numerous fields: painter, printmaker, sculptor, advertiser, photographer, videographer, multimedia author, sound artist, graphic designer, industrial designer, textile designer, curator, art mediator, artistic director, and more.

With the aim of supporting its graduates in their professional integration, HEAR has established several support programs. Within this framework, HEAR allows holders of a DNSEP (Diplôme national supérieur d’expression plastique), Master’s level, option Art, who graduated within the past three years, to benefit from a studio for one year in Building 75 at the DMC industrial site. For this first residency, HEAR selected the artists Julia Mancini (DNSEP Art, 2017) and Amalia Taquet (DNSEP Art, 2017), as well as the graphic designers of the collective Obergrad, Juliette Clavaud and Sébastien Lamoureix (DNSEP Graphic Design, 2015).