Research at the School

A unique search

Trying to define research-creation is a challenge given the diversity of practices and methods. However, the articulation of theory, critical thinking and plastic or design practice seems to be the heart of all research-creation work.
The artist-researcher questions our relationship to the world, develops thought and produces knowledge like any other researcher. Perhaps he or she places them in other places, those of the sensitive, the intangible, the unspeakable. Research in art and design is complex, it is multiple, it is rich in encounters between things and people, and in reflections on "doing".

Art schools defend the singularity of the research they practice. The place of the plastic form or the design object is essential. Because the plastic form constitutes, like a dissertation or thesis, a restitution of the research. Theory and practice feed each other, in a constant back and forth between "thinking" and "doing". Thus we can consider that research in art and design constitutes one of the richest and most innovative forms of research in that it gives rise to the new, the supplement, the other.
Research at Ensad Limoges echoes this plurality and this richness.

Ensad has undertaken to structure and make more visible the research that is carried out there, supported in this approach by a Scientific Council, meeting for the first time in the fall of 2023, made up of personalities from the world of art and design who contribute, through their discussions and opinions, to nourishing the reflections and refining the structuring. The formats of research at the school are multiple: Research and Creation Workshops (ARCs), seminars, conferences, research-creation residencies, study days, exhibitions, publications, master's theses.

The CCE lab (Ceramics as Experience) , created in 2015 with the aim of positioning ceramics at the centre of research outside of any theme, is today an experimental space focusing research on the links between traditional techniques and new technologies, with a cross-cutting aim.

It runs parallel to the three research areas identified as being central to reflections and practices: Territories of the Living , Traditional Gesture/Innovative Gesture , and Image/Imaginary . From these research areas stem ARCs (Research and Creation Workshops) led by transdisciplinary teams associating artists, designers, and theorists: Chromoculture: Cultivating Color through Art and Design , New Gestures , Images & Co, Moteur Amour, Les Peintres Dauphins , and the School in Fermentation . These workshops constitute periods of collective work bringing together students, teachers, and educational support staff around defined issues to which everyone contributes. Interactions and cross-pollinations exist, enriching reflections and practices. The ambition is to prepare students for the practice of research in art and design, emphasizing the methodological, conceptual, contextual, and practical specificities of such research. These are also spaces for questioning personal work, re-evaluating approaches, and positioning oneself within the contemporary field of art and design. Constantly questioning itself, research at Ensad reinvents itself through projects and experiments, each offering a potential response to major contemporary challenges.

These developments will soon be extended through a postgraduate program, in partnership with the University of Limoges. A new call for applications will be launched in the fall of 2026 to recruit doctoral students whose thesis project, focused on ceramics, falls within the research areas developed at Ensad Limoges.

Master in Contemporary Creation and Cultural Industries (CCIC)

Another aspect of the research takes shape through collaborations with the University of Limoges, specifically with the Master's program in Contemporary Creation and Cultural Industries (CCIC) . Its teaching team brings together artists, designers, art theorists, and specialists in media culture. The program is based on the complementarity of various disciplinary approaches. At the heart of its mission is an understanding of the mechanisms specific to contemporary creation within the media landscape, from the conception of artworks to their circulation.

Ensad Limoges students have the opportunity to follow a double course at the school and within the CCIC master's degree, which constitutes a good introduction to entry into the 3rd cycle.

In addition to the work already undertaken with the Faculty of Arts on the Vanteaux Campus, ENSAD has joined the Doctoral Schools College of the University of Limoges . This integration facilitates access to the various laboratories, promotes a greater diversity of research topics for future doctoral students (outside the humanities), and opens up avenues for funding.

Ensad Limoges is attentive to new doctoral paths in the field of research-creation and wishes to strengthen its approach by implementing dedicated programs structured around two major themes of its teaching: ceramics and sustainable development. Ceramics, as a material and as a field of experimentation by promoting its links with the territory. The ecological transition and its sociological, political and anthropological issues, the main axis of the direction for the next five years.

Scientific Advisor

To structure and develop research within the school, the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (Ensad) in Limoges has established a scientific council to assist in the development of its scientific and artistic projects. The council's mission is to ensure the coherence and implementation of the school's scientific policy by issuing opinions accompanied by recommendations. In addition to individuals involved in teaching and research at the school, its members include artists, designers, and theorists whose work aligns with Ensad's research topics. Members are appointed for three-year terms. The council meets a maximum of twice a year, according to an agenda set by the administration and the director of studies and research.

The scientific council decides on the internal procedures for evaluating research activities and their implementation; on requests for research activities from theorists, artists at Ensad and students; on the collection and distribution of budgets to the various research programs; on the choice of orientations of post-DNSEP research systems; on the editorial policy and the methods of restitution of work, as well as on any research project developed by the school internally, externally, with a doctoral school and/or in partnership with a research organization.