Nicolas Bourriaud Reflects on Failed Educational Turn and Art School Reform at École des Beaux-Arts

In 2015, curator Nicolas Bourriaud examined the stagnant 'educational turn' within art institutions, influenced by his role as the former director of École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He observed that, despite initial progress in the early 2000s, art schools had not evolved for three decades, hindered by entrenched power dynamics and adherence to European standards such as the Bologna Process. At Beaux-Arts de Paris, his reform initiative sought to foster collaboration between exhibition areas and studios, although he encountered resistance from professor Jean-François Chevrier. Bourriaud differentiated between the curator's 'polyphonic' method and the historian's singular 'Truth,' referencing the 2006 cancellation of Manifesta 6 as a lost chance. Proposed reforms included work groups, a practice-based doctorate, and a student café project space.