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| École de Recherche Graphique | |
|---|---|
| Name | École de Recherche Graphique |
| Native name | École de Recherche Graphique |
| Established | 1932 |
| Type | Private art and design school |
| City | Brussels |
| Country | Belgium |
École de Recherche Graphique is a Brussels-based institution specializing in visual communication, graphic design, animation, illustration and comics. The school maintains links with international art institutions and professional networks, and offers studio-based instruction alongside workshops and exhibitions. Its pedagogical approach integrates historical research, technical practice, and contemporary media across several creative disciplines.
The foundation of the school in Brussels involved figures connected to the Surrealism milieu, the legacy of the Bauhaus, and networks around the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp), Institut National Supérieur des Arts du Spectacle et des Techniques de Diffusion and Schaerbeek cultural initiatives. Early decades intersected with movements associated with René Magritte, Paul Delvaux, James Ensor, Victor Horta and municipal patronage from the City of Brussels. During the postwar period the school engaged with pedagogy influenced by Walter Gropius, Jan van Eyck, Gerrit Rietveld, De Stijl practitioners and the Institut Supérieur Saint-Luc, while maintaining connections to Belgian publishers such as Dupuis, Casterman and Le Lombard. In the 1970s and 1980s curricular reforms echoed debates involving Marshall McLuhan, Roland Barthes, Jacques Tati and collaborators from Centre Pompidou and Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Paris). The end of the 20th century saw exchanges with digital studios linked to Pixar, Aardman Animations, Studio Ghibli alumni and European platforms such as Ars Electronica, Biennale di Venezia and Documenta. Recent decades have included residencies and collaborations with practitioners associated with Hergé, Franquin, Moebius, Hergé Museum, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and international festivals like Angoulême International Comics Festival.
Program offerings reference methodologies used at institutions such as École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Royal College of Art, École Cantonale d'Art de Lausanne, University of the Arts London, Rhode Island School of Design, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Goldsmiths, University of London and The New School. Courses integrate studio practice with seminars inspired by theories from Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault, Umberto Eco, Bruno Latour and technical instruction paralleling studios at Le Fresnoy, Eye Filmmuseum, Berklee College of Music crossover labs and MIT Media Lab-style prototyping. Degree tracks align with frameworks utilized by Erasmus Programme, Bologna Process signatories and accreditation approaches of Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles. Electives and workshops draw visiting faculty from Sundance Institute, Annecy International Animated Film Festival, SIGGRAPH, Type Directors Club and curatorial input from Tate Modern, Centre Georges Pompidou, Museum of Modern Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, Ludwig Museum and Palais de Tokyo.
Teaching staff and guest lecturers have included practitioners and scholars affiliated with René Magritte Museum, Hergé, Franquin, Yoshitaka Amano, Jean Giraud, Alice Rawsthorn, Paola Antonelli, David Hockney, Anish Kapoor, Olafur Eliasson, Coco Fusco, Tim Burton, Chris Ware, Marjane Satrapi, Quentin Blake, Shaun Tan, Claire Denis, Chantal Akerman-linked authors and curators from Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, WIELS, La Cambre. Alumni have entered fields associated with Dupuis, Casterman, Le Lombard, Les Humanoïdes Associés, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Fantagraphics Books, Penguin Random House, Thames & Hudson, Canal+, BBC Studios, Netflix, HBO, StudioCanal, Sony Pictures Animation and cultural management at Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique.
Facilities include studios and workshops comparable to those at Beaux-Arts de Paris, ENSAD, Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Ghent), and technical rooms for animation and printmaking akin to setups at National Film Board of Canada labs and La Fémis training spaces. The campus houses libraries and archives referencing collections from Royal Library of Belgium, Bibliothèque nationale de France, British Library, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze and has equipment used in collaborations with FabLab Brussels, CERN outreach programs, Banque Nationale de Belgique exhibition spaces and public venues coordinated with Brussels Expo.
Institutional partnerships connect the school with Université libre de Bruxelles, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, University of Liège, Erasmus Mundus consortia, European networks like European League of Institutes of the Arts, Cumulus Association, and research collaborations with European Commission-funded projects, Horizon 2020 initiatives, Creative Europe programs and cultural policy units from Wallonia-Brussels Federation. The school has ongoing exchanges with museums and festivals including Bozar, Palais des Beaux-Arts (Charleroi), Festival d'Avignon, Ghent Film Festival, Rotterdam Film Festival, Berlinale, Cannes Film Festival and partnerships with studios linked to IDEO, Pentagram, Fjord, AKQA and startups incubated by SIRRIS.
The institution curates exhibitions in venues such as Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, WIELS, BOZAR, Musée Magritte Museum, Fondation Cartier, Galerie Xavier Hufkens, Galerie MAM and participates in international fairs like Art Brussels, FIAC, Frieze Art Fair and Art Basel. Publications include catalogs and journals in line with output from Phaidon Press, Taschen, Thames & Hudson, Actes Sud, Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire collaborations and conference proceedings presented at ICAS and symposia organized with ICOM. Student and faculty books appear alongside series by MIT Press, Routledge, Bloomsbury, University of Chicago Press and exhibition monographs printed with partners such as Lannoo Publishers.
The school and its community have been associated with prizes and recognition including connections to laureates of the Prix de Rome (Belgium), Turner Prize nominees, Venice Biennale participants, César Awards contributors, Cartoon d’Or winners, Eisner Awards nominees, Angoulême Prize recipients and grants from Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique, Belgian American Educational Foundation, Prince Claus Fund and European Cultural Foundation.