EPAC – Academy of Contemporary Art

About

EPAC Academy of Contemporary Art is the first Comic and Game Art school in Switzerland. Our programs are for students who dream of a career as an illustrator, comic artist, artist, game designer or many other artistic careers. Courses consist of practical and theoretical lessons with workshops given by prominent illustrators, screenwriters, game artists and academics on a campus with over 630 square meters of space dedicated solely to narrative art.

EPAC offers a Foundation Year, Bachelor Degree in Game Art, Painting and Illustration and New Media, including an internship. The MA in Game Art/Dev will set you on the course to a game art career either as a designer or developer or help you to set up your own company with confidence.

External projects help students understand the professional world and your portfolio will develop and mature with each semester. International collaborations with industry and academic institutions also give students the chance to experience different perspectives and can be important in securing their first position after graduation.

Studying for a European Bachelor Degree in Fine Art (BAFA) or Masters (MA) in Game Art or Game Dev will develop your skill and give you an advantage in your career in the art or Gaming world. Studying in Switzerland will be an experience you will not forget.

Our Mission

To provide challenging programs and projects for students to realize their potential. Through traditional art and the latest technologies, EPAC will open the minds and hearts of students to professional and international opportunities in the world of visual and narrative arts.

External guest speakers for workshops as well as professors allow students to be accompanied in their process of creating artistic content, and to witness the issues and problems inherent to the world of narrative art. This dialogue between learners and teachers is not limited to the field of artistic practice, but frequently opens up to various universes, such as the sciences in relation to technologies or the more conceptual artistic fields.

Aware that the art world is deeply cosmopolitan, the school also offers its students mobility and transnational networks. Indeed, the EPAC has been collaborating for several years with European (Belgium, France and Poland) and Asian universities, with student exchange programs between Taiwan and Switzerland and the setting up of inter-school and international competitions.

Accredited school

EPAC is a public school accredited by EABHES (European Accreditation Board of Higher Education Schools) and delivers the European Bachelor and European Master degrees recognized at European and Asian level.

Values

Located in Saxon since 2001, EPAC aims to be an experimental platform for interdisciplinary exchanges anchored in technological developments and professional realities. This objective is reflected in its avant-garde training program, which responds to the transformations of artistic media (interactivity, virtuality), without neglecting the mastery of traditional techniques.

Students are thus trained to be generalists, capable of grasping the contemporary demands of art, while having a good perception of professional issues. The external mandates entrusted to the school testify to this constant dialogue between the students and the professional world, whether the work is on traditional media or requires a transmedia approach.

Since its creation, the EPAC has surrounded itself with many innovative and recognized personalities, through conferences and workshops throughout the school year, but also through the courses given daily.

A school in the heart of the Alps

Located in the heart of the Alps, in the commune of Saxon, it has an attractive setting close to urban areas such as Martigny and Sion and less than an hour from Lausanne.

In 2001, the EPAC was established in the former cinema of Saxon thanks to the support of the municipal authorities. Accessible by public transport (about 10 minutes from Saxon station), the building is equipped to accommodate about 90 students over 4 school years.

Collaborations

The EPAC also collaborates with Swiss institutions and companies that allow students to confront the demands of the graphic arts, animation and video game industries. In recent years, we have been mandated by the Swiss Parliament, the IDIAP – Research Institute, the Samaritans Association of Geneva, and recently by the Canton of Valais, the cities of Montreux and Lugano and several companies and associations in Switzerland.

 

General Information