Professor and researcher at the Geneva High School of Art and Design, Nicolas Nova died at the age of 47, after feeling unwell during a trek. We dedicated a portrait to him two years ago, which we are republishing this Monday.
Nicolas Nova in Geneva, in February 2023. Photo Olivier Vogelsang for Télérama
By Xavier de Jarcy
Published on January 6, 2025 at 5:35 p.m.
Article originally published in Telerama February 22, 2023
Franco-Swiss anthropologist Nicolas Nova, 45, teaches the art of investigation at Head (Haute École d’art et de design), in Geneva. This city inspires him because “she has a scientific culture linked to the Enlightenment”he explains in his office, between a construction helmet and a toy robot. In their professional life, his students will use his knowledge to better understand who they will target. “digital objects, products, scenographies, signage” that they will imagine.
His way of looking at the world with “gentle irony” dates back to childhood. He grew up in Charlieu, northwest of Lyon. His mother, a bookseller, and his father, a doctor, gave him a solid general knowledge. Nature attracted him as much as the new tools of the 1980s and 1990s: Minitel, video games… Hence studies along the way. “bicorn”which took him from biology to computer science, and concluded with a nuanced thesis on the use of smartphones. He drew a common thread from it: a reflection on the artificialization of our planet.
By immersing himself in digital society, Nicolas Nova had the feeling of “crisis of sensitivities”and even a “failure of imagination” : in his opinion, the leaders of technology companies have too often “a stereotypical conception of the future”, based on flying cars and hyperconnected cities, while “science fiction authors, designers, artists, architects offer many alternative visions”. However, for this teacher who likes to mix the serious and the fun, knowing how to observe “is the prerequisite for building sensitivity”. He spends his time writing down overheard conversations, new words, and taking photos. For example, he has « fifteen years of images on the “You are here” signs found on city maps. And a whole documentation on a district of Geneva with street names evoking texts by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). He took out a little book, Observation exercises, which invites everyone to “study things and beings” by collecting, classifying, mapping… “You have to question the little spoons, as Georges Perec said. » Writing is one of his pleasures. He is already preparing his next work, which will tell the story of the metamorphosis of the Alps. Like a modern Rousseau, the idea came to him during a walk.
r Observation exercisesed. First Parallel, 168 p. €9.50.
