Self-defense guide for art students

Les mots de trop is a graphic project to fight and raise awareness among all students in the cultural world, launched in 2019. The collective grew out of the work of three art school students who wanted to break the taboo around systemic violence in art schools.

The guide contains almost 400 testimonials from over 100 French-speaking public and private art, design and architecture schools. It lists inappropriate phrases to denounce their place in the art school and to question the silence that goes with them, while providing hints for self-defense.

This text was published in English in June 2021 on the Swiss media Futuress. It provides an initial overview of systemic violence at cultural colleges. The figures given have not been updated in this text. Warning: please note that this article includes descriptions of sexist and sexual, racist and validist violence.

Download the guide below to consult it (FR only).