The project aimed to develop new methodologies in artistic HEIs, focusing on materiality, procedures, gestures as a way of experimentation and research, and with a particular attention to eco-design topics. These methodologies integrated the development and use of digital tools in the transmission of know-how in order to propose an appropriate balance between digital and physical interactions , encouraging collaboration between different actors. The objectives included exploring the role of the artist as an actor in the search for new ecological modes of production and promoting innovation through collaboration between craftsmen, designers and artists. The project responded to the priorities of the Erasmus+ Programme by supporting the development of programmes focused on the needs of art and design students, preparing them to act as players in the ecological transition.
The project meets the need for the professionalisation of young artists and designers, the issue which is at the heart of the concerns of European Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) of art and design. Although the creative sector generates nearly 30 million jobs worldwide and employs more young people than any other sector, graduates of the visual arts are experiencing difficulties in professional integration. At the same time, artists and designers are showing a growing interest in the use of manual skills and craftsmanship in the creative process. These orientations are part of the search for ecologically and socially responsible modes of production, with a desire to rethink our relationship with objects in the era of the Anthropocene.They also respond to the challenge of preserving and revitalising craft skills on a European scale through contemporary creation.These challenges mean that we need to fully integrate into our training programmes this relationship with the materiality of the works, and encourage students to consider this relationship with craftsmanship in the creative process, whether in their own work or in collaboration with craftsmen.