In the spring of 2024, Thomas Mailaender and the students of the ECAL Bachelor in Photography entered the ruins of the club with the intention of making it resonate once again. Between archaeology, documentary research, and imaginative speculations, the group of adventurers crafted a surprising exhibition path blending mold and glitter, ashes and glamour. For one night, the Corso was filled with explosive sounds and images in a fiery tribute to the nights of Renens.
Studio project (2024) by Adel Debabéche, Belinda Kiela, Cedric Zellweger, Delio Testa, Eliot Pizzera, Emanuele Delpozzo, Ettore Bruni, Fredrik Maag, Gabrielle Coué, Héloïse Tourrenc, Inès Riber, Jerome Luginbühl, Kristina Yenza, Lester Kielstein, Maude Bally, Nicolas Lehni, Maël Le Guével, Rebecca Dubuis, Sofia Grytsiv
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Le cinéma Corso ouvre ses portes en 1949, à la suite de l'achat et de la transformation de l'ancien cinéma du Grand Hôtel. Son activité s'inscrit dans la continuité des projections cinématographiques organisées par l'établissement hôtelier inauguré en 1906, dans l'effervescence immobilière de la ville nouvelle se développant aux abords de la gare de Renens. En 1979, une discothèque est aménagée au sous-sol, mais en 1992, une explosion met fin à son activité. Le bâtiment est démoli en 1999. Sous la place aménagée ensuite, les débris reposent encore. Le silence, l'obscurité et l'humidité ont pris possession des lieux.
- Christian Schülé
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Event
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Maisie Cousins
The aim of this workshop, led by photographer Maisie Cousins, is to use photography as a tool to broaden our powers of observation. During the week, students explored macro photography to create miniature and abstract worlds using everyday objects and accessories. This invites us to reflect: what else are we overlooking in our immediate environment?
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Douglas Mandry
This workshop brought together ECAL graduate artist Douglas Mandry, the Polaroid Foundation, and around thirty Bachelor Photography students. They had the exceptional opportunity to work with a camera that produces Polaroid films in a 40 × 60 cm format and weighs nearly 200 kg. This experience was made possible thanks to its operators, John Reuter and Harriet Browse, who introduced the students to the use of this unique device and the Polaroid Foundation team. Douglas Mandry provided the project’s artistic direction and supported the students in their experiments carried out directly with and on the films. The final result was presented as a collective exhibition on ECAL’s premises, revealing a particularly rich diversity of approaches and visions.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
by Adel Debabéche
Ouled El Bahdja offers an intimate glimpse into Algerian youth, caught between waiting and the desire to leave. This project explores the mental and physical space of a generation dreaming of elsewhere, in a country where the future feels suspended. It is a portrait of a fragmented daily life, where time stretches into boredom, yet a quiet tension remains—between resignation and hope. An attempt to capture those in-between moments, those gazes turned toward Europe—a collective fantasy, a promise of recognition, but also an uncertain path... Ouled El Bahdja sheds light on a youth that, despite sociopolitical constraints, seeks to build a meaningful existence. A gesture to make visible the dreams and desires for emancipationborn in the shadows.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
by Belinda Kiela
The images in this edition are fragments of an immersion at the University of Kinshasa : a glimpse into student life in a vibrant, ever-moving capital. Through laughter, doubts, and encounters, the photographer has learned to anchor herself in a daily life far removed from the one she knows in Europe. Bana ya Mbóka — children of the country — gives a face to the youths who study, dream, and resist on this campus. Founded in 1954, UniKin aimed to be a leading African institution, but instability slowed that vision. Despite strikes, power cuts, and limited resources, the students she has met exude strength and clarity. This project reveals moments of connection, gestures of resilience, and hopes that persists through it all.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
by Delio Testa
Naples is a vibrant expression of a people’s deep love for their land. This passion lives on despite the weight of daily chaos and hardships that run deeper than it appears. To understand it, a person must enter Neapolitan life, where devotion to figures from religion, culture or everyday life is everywhere. These icons give strength, inspire creation and sustain a constant desire to celebrate. Neapolitans do not just endure struggle. They turn it into energy and a powerful source of hope. This book reflects that spirit through portraits and documentary work.