BLI x ECAL : ENSEMBLE – PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION, 04–24.09.2023, Grand-Pont, Lausanne

Le Bureau lausannois pour les immigrés (BLI) and the ECAL are presenting ENSEMBLE, an open-air exhibition highlighting Lausanne's community life. A series of contemporary photographs designed to arouse in passers-by emotions as diverse as the communities represented.

BLI maintains regular links with more than 160 associations active in the field of integration and the prevention of racism. It supports, encourages and assists them on a daily basis. Hand in hand, public authorities and associations are working to encourage people to live together and to promote Lausanne's rich diversity.

By immersing themselves in the life of these associations, ECAL's Bachelor of Photography students were able to highlight in images the essential work carried out in the various areas they cover. This exhibition provides a complex and multifaceted panorama of Lausanne's cultural diversity. It also demonstrates the extent to which encounters and mixes are possible and fruitful.

OPENING: Monday, 4 July, 6.30pm
DATES & SCHEDULE: 04-24.09.2023
Thursday 10am-8pm, other days 10am-6pm
Free entry
ADDRESS: Rue du Grand-Pont
1003 Lausanne

HEAD OF PROGRAMME: Milo Keller
TEACHER: Matthieu Gafsou
ASSISTANTS: Sarah Koeke , Angèle Marignac-Serra
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Giacomo Bastianelli
STUDENTS: Gwendoline Albasini · Tony Altermatt · Noa Chevalley · Sara De Brito Faustino , Jessica Dreier · Valerie Geissbühler · Eloïse Genoud , Martino De Grandis · Marie Haefner · Ulises Lozano · Yan Miranda · Lea Sblandano · Samuel Spreyz

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BLI × ECAL

Project

The collaboration between the ECAL and the BLI touches on contemporary issues that are of particular concern to students at the school: our relationship with minorities and the appropriate way of representing them. For a long time, a paternalistic anthropological attitude was tolerated and even encouraged in the world of photography. Attitudes have changed, and the young artists at the ECAL have developed a relationship of equals with the various communities they have encountered. Creating the images required a language that enabled the students to position themselves in relation to others and to establish protocols in line with their own values and those of the people on the other side of the lens. The images give us a complex, multifaceted panorama of our city's cultural diversity, and show us that encounters and mixes are possible and fruitful. Matthieu Gafsou, photographer and teacher.