“In this work, I photographed Baroque-style churches in Germany, Austria and Spain according to criteria of architectural rhetoric. I selected these churches according to their exuberance, as well as the arrangement and level of saturation of their ornamentation, composed of decorative, figurative and symbolic elements. I photographed these places of worship in such a way as to produce an effect of visual saturation and a certain degree of abstraction in my images, with the intention that the viewer should first lose his or her visual bearings, and then be able to perceive the different elements that make them up. I have sought to compress the three-dimensionality of these churches into the picture plane, in order to better manifest the trompe-l'oeil of the Baroque, so that all the architecture merges with the painting. This flattening out of Baroque exuberance and excess serves as an elliptical critique of the contemporary society of spectacle. In the accumulation of spectacle(s) in today's culture, the world is in constant representation, and desires are channeled into images. By choosing the baroque as a metaphor for spectacle, my images also function as a reminder that the spectacular regime of images is in fact a historical given.“
Cyril Porchet
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Natacha Lesueur
“What is clearly conceived can be clearly expressed, and the words to say it come easily.” Nicholas Boileau, *L’art poétique*. As students embark on their final year of study at ECAL, with their interests and methods taking shape, this final project offers an opportunity to challenge their own rules, established practices and influences, to refuse to settle for the status quo and to take risks.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Nicolas Poillot
By conceptualizing and producing visual content as part of an editorial series, students will explore the concept of applied photography in a practical, creative, and professional manner, working closely with Art Director Nicolas Poillot.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Anoush Abrar
DRIVE For this week’s theme, “Drive,” first-year photography students were asked to create a portrait shot on medium-format film. Inspired by the sensation of a first driving experience, travel, empowerment, or discovery, the week aimed to explore the relationship between one or more people and a vehicle.
BA GRAPHIC DESIGN
BA MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Jean-Vincent Simonet, Léonard Guyot, Florian Pittet (Sigmasix), Vincent Jacquier, Julien Gurtner
During a week of collaborative work, first-year students in the Visual Communication department at ECAL were given the ambitious task of creating a complete audiovisual experience, designing a light and sound architecture based solely on five original musical compositions. Using a central totem-like screen installation and projections on the surrounding walls, enhanced with lasers, they created a visual environment, broadcast in real time, which was presented as a performance to the public at the end of the week. The aim was to construct a universe capable of fully utilizing the space and the various stage elements, inviting the audience to move around and experience the live performance in its entirety. Five cross-functional creative groups, each with a different sound base, were supervised by Jean-Vincent Simonet and Léonard Guyot to produce images and test them throughout the week on the device, which was developed, set up and operated by a sixth group under the supervision of Florian Pittet, Matthieu Minguet and Achille Masson.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Maxime Guyon
This semester, students will explore how reflective surfaces transform our relationship to image and object. They become thresholds: what the object shows sometimes matters less than what its reflection reveals. Like a photosensitive material, they capture and replay the world, even embodying a form of technological and consumerist sterilization. Mirror-objects disrupt perception: as simulacra, they distort, double, multiply, or elude like a trompe-l’œil. They question what lies beyond the frame, showing what the object “sees” rather than what it is, and can become a space for self-reflection a mirror of their creator sometimes even fostering a narcissistic dimension.