with Calypso Mahieu Laurent Soldini, Sophie Wietlisbach
The project aims to shed light on the career of Richard Authier (Lausanne, 1925–2018), who was an industrial designer at Hermes Paillard International in Yverdon-les-Bains and a pioneer of industrial design in French-speaking Switzerland.
FILM STUDIES
with Valentina Novati, Héléna Klotz
Lucy is a young Cro-Magnon woman, a descendant of Lucy the Australopithecus, who lives in a pre-historic, Stone Age, tribe.
FILM STUDIES
with Valentina Novati, Héléna Klotz
Guillaume, a young pig farmer, discovers that his father is indulging in bestiality.
FILM STUDIES
with Valentina Novati, Héléna Klotz
Three young artists search for their place in the world, under the glow of supernova remnants.
FILM STUDIES
with Denis Jutzeler
For my diploma project, I did the cinematography for the bachelor film of my classmate Arsène Fragnière: Cartilage.
FILM STUDIES
with Valentina Novati, Héléna Klotz
At the end of the night, Gaël will abandon his group of friends. As the evening progresses, however, they realize that something is wrong.
FILM STUDIES
with Valentina Novati, Héléna Klotz
Knight Borboron is poisoned and wants to apologize to Hildegund before dying.
FILM STUDIES
with Valentina Novati, Héléna Klotz
In the passenger seat, a young woman waits for the end of the road unfolding beyond the window.
FILM STUDIES
with Valentina Novati, Héléna Klotz
Mila is tired of living in this small town and dreams of elsewhere. But leaving everything behind means even her closest friends.
FILM STUDIES
with Valentina Novati, Héléna Klotz
What remains of a mother after years of domestic violence? What remains of her body, her dignity and her strength? Surely words, memory and a few dance steps that can still be passed down.
FILM STUDIES
with Valentina Novati, Héléna Klotz
Today, Lea is going in search of a subject for a documentary film. When she believes she's finally caught her prey, the roles end up being reversed. The hunter becomes the hunted.
FILM STUDIES
with Valentina Novati, Héléna Klotz
Clara is a sixteen-year-old girl who lives alone with her mother in a small isolated house in the forest. Clara is full of vitality, but her depressive mother prevents her from breaking free. An encounter with a mysterious boy in the forest leads Clara to transgress her daily life.
FILM STUDIES
with Valentina Novati, Héléna Klotz
An alienating love between two beings who wish to have a child but cannot.
FILM STUDIES
with Elene Naveriani
In the near future, Xzir, a woman in her thirties, finds herself faced with an unwanted pregnancy. In the ultra-digital, techno-authoritarian society in which she lives, pregnancies are automatically entered in a national register and monitored by the state, abortions are banned. Xzir is going to take the illegal path of the DarkWeb to end her pregnancy, whatever the cost.
FILM STUDIES
with Elene Naveriani
Two women who have nothing in common must hide in a mountain refuge to escape a zombie attack.
FILM STUDIES
with Elene Naveriani
A sound engineer records the sounds of a forgotten past in the jungles of the Colombian Pacific.
FILM STUDIES
with Elene Naveriani
While wandering around Paris, Fenni, a Chinese girl, drifts between dream and reality.
FILM STUDIES
with Elene Naveriani
Three siblings must keep two fires alive, to protect themselves from a monster that lives in the dark.
FILM STUDIES
with Elene Naveriani
In a forgotten Swiss valley, an evil wind haunts the lives of former asbestos factory workers.
FILM STUDIES
with Elene Naveriani
Through a metaphor with mechanical overtones, an unbroken chain of three situations, divergent and yet so connected by a single element: pulsating, living steel. A family car with a mom and her kid, a furious truck, flying cars. An endless lullaby of engines.
FILM STUDIES
with Anne Brouillet
This is the first draft of a feature film script, written over the two years of the MA programme.
FILM STUDIES
with Anne Brouillet
This is the first draft of a feature film script, written over the two years of the MA programme.
FILM STUDIES
with Anne Brouillet
This is the first draft of a feature film script, written over the two years of the MA programme.
FINE ARTS
with Geoffrey Cottenceau, Gina Proenza
Whether it’s a parade, a particle accelerator or a dance ball, SLAP invites you to inhabit a space from a gravitational perspective. Positioned on the boundary between two and three dimensions, the works are subject to centrifugal laws and find themselves exchanging with one another to create fortuitous narratives, as if the continuous round of which they were a part of had suddenly come to a halt. The exhibition space becomes the site of a fundamentally social event - in terms of the works it hosts and the exhibition context - and reveals the social perspective that the works hold in rela- tion to each other. Like a boring chat with a friend of a friend, some pieces are overwhelmed by their conversations, while others lend themselves easily to them. You’ll have no hesitation in intercepting some of the phrases exchanged between the works, while having the opportunity to: reply/nego- tiate/argue with the social time-space that SLAP, as a real static meeting point, offers for an evening.
with Jonas Berthod, Louise Paradis, Gilles Gavillet
Matter’s career was that of a multidisciplinary, international designer working across commerce and culture. He was not only a graphic artist but also a photographer, type designer, art director, teacher and film-maker. His work in the field of advertising and editorial design, his collaborations with artists, his self-commissioned work, his photography and film outputs and his long-serving position as an educator provide as many entry points to analyse the impact of migration and an international network on a graphic designer’s career. It also provides a case study to analyse the professional model of the designer working as photographer and layout artist simultaneously.
TYPE DESIGN
with Matthieu Cortat, Alice Savoie, Kai Bernau, Radim Pesko, Roland Früh
In the early age of digital type, several methods were explored to draw letterforms. One of them, the Bézier spline, an algorithm that generates curves with a small quantity of data, has the crucial advantage of sparing computer memory and processing resources. It is today the industry standard. This project aims to question and reevaluate it, to move beyond established trends, to develop innovative ideas by exploring alternative methods of drawing curves, and letterforms.
with Sophie Wietlisbach
Between the 1940s and the 1990s, three companies manufactured type components for typewriters in Switzerland: Caractères SA, Setag and Novatype. During more than fifty years, they supplied the biggest manufacturers of office machines in Europe and around the world, such as IBM, Remington, Olivetti, Paillard-Hermès or Triumph-Adler. Having held a leading position worldwide, the three manufacturers played a key role in the design, development, and production of type components and typefaces for typewriters, as well as for all kinds of impact printers.
with Quang Vinh Nguyen, Cynthia Ammann, Chi-Long Trieu
Cà phê (coffee), atisô (artichoke), xi nê ma (cinema), căng tin (canteen) or xi-măng (cement): in the Vietnamese language, many words bear the imprint of a French origin. And what if the same were true of everyday objects? Somewhere between cultural anthropology, the epistemology of Vietnamese design and the sociology of objects, this research project analyses the production of objects in Vietnam in the light of French colonisation and decolonisation.
PHOTOGRAPHY
with Milo Keller, Marco De Mutiis
The MAST Foundation is presenting the seventh edition of Foto/Industria, the world's first biennial event devoted to photography of industry and work, at a number of historic venues in Bologna and at MAST. The 12 exhibitions in Foto/Industria 2023 represent a chronology of points of view on the theme of PLAY, from the end of the 19th century to the present day. They offer an opportunity to observe and delve into the research of a selection of international artists. The ECAL is presenting an exhibition of its research project Automated Photography. An increasing number of images are produced autonomously by machines for machines with a gradual exclusion of any human intervention. Automated Photography is a research project developed by the Master Photography that addresses this situation by examining the technologies of image production and distribution such as: machine learning, CGI, photogrammetry.
with Davide Fornari, Jonas Berthod, Chiara Barbieri
The research project investigates the discourse on graphic design in Switzerland in the under-researched period from 1980 to 2020. While the 1950s and 1960s saw graphic design in Switzerland reach international recognition and commercial expansion under the label “Swiss style”, a paradigm shift emerged in the following decades. The attention of many practitioners turned away from design as a pure service for the industrial and service sector and moved towards cultural commissions on a local, national and international level. Instead of aiming for maximum return, they chose their commissions according to whether they promised them creative freedom and whether they contributed to the profiling of their portfolio in alignment with their new definition of the profession as a lifestyle. This project examines the emergence and the development of this phenomenon, which became known as “cultural graphic design”, in professional graphic design in Switzerland.
PHOTOGRAPHY
by Sara De Brito Faustino
“This project presents the home as a place where uncanniness and vernacular commonness exist side by side. Being an intimate space, a home should be a restful and secure place. However, mine has been the scene of some painful events. Today, I see this house as threatening. Uncomfortable and dysfunctional, it bears the scars of the past. In my photographs, I revisit those memories and reclaim my body. My tiny dioramas express my young self’s ideals opposed to the wounds I currently bear. Constructing, deconstructing, objects become bodies, whereas my being feels deformed and petrified. Toute petite et vilaine (“Tiny and Ugly”) creates an antagonistic tension between appealing visuals and disturbing details.“
FINE ARTS
FILM STUDIES
FINE ARTS
FILM STUDIES
with François Bovier
Artists who produce archives from their own work approach archival activity as a creative gesture: here, the archive literally becomes a work of art. In parallel with the “archival impulse” that has run through contemporary art since the 1960s, this research project examines the “performative agency” of archives when they are constituted from “image acts”. The selected corpus is based on an extremely singular case, the cinematographic work of Gregory J. Markopoulos (1928-1992) and the Temenos archives.
UNITE DE THEORIE
FINE ARTS
with Vincent Normand, Stéphanie Moisdon
This research project questions what has come of youth – a conceptual, aesthetic, and political figure that was born with modernity – in the visual arts, popular culture, and the humanities. Conversely, the project addresses what the problematic category of “youth” has brought about in contemporary art and thought.
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
with Alain Bellet, Andrea Anner, Thibault Brevet, Martin Hertig
Robotic arms have long been a common sight in many industries. They are currently making a rapid entry into art and design studios and practices. Yet, at the same time, difficulties remain in accessing the workflows and work methods demanded by these machines given a clear lack of reference resources suited for this community. The same applies to Art and Design schools, which are increasingly investing in this type of equipment, often without having the resources to run it. This research project uses applied case studies to explore and define a set of exemplary work methods, capable of both informing and inspiring future users.
DESIGN FOR LUXURY & CRAFTSMANSHIP
by Céline Witzke
This project draws inspiration from the world of fashion, specifically the organic movements, volumes and textures found in textiles, and explores how these elements unintentionally create soft forms. In collaboration with Swiss glass manufacturer Niesenglass, a collection of multipurpose glass objects has been created, showcasing craftsmanship in a new light.
DESIGN FOR LUXURY & CRAFTSMANSHIP
by Shan Yu Kuan
BASUANN draws inspiration from the image of traditional Asian rattan/bamboo chairs. Its name echoes the pronunciation of the Taiwanese meaning “tie with cords”. Comprised of seven pieces of spiral ducts, BASUANN is assembled using mortise and tenon joints to connect the sitting part with the legs part. It is further reinforced by cords that securely bind the stool together. BASUANN seamlessly blends contemporary furniture design with the evocative imagery of Asian traditional craftsmanship, showcasing the aesthetic of minimalistic design.
DESIGN FOR LUXURY & CRAFTSMANSHIP
by Charitini Gkritzali
Deriving inspiration from 20th century orthopaedic braces, Topology of a Body is a series of body jewellery items that closely conform to the human anatomy and resemble the body’s structural elements. Each piece is composed by solid geometrical shapes and organic curves that are created with silver or steel wire. The thickness of the wire is altered in a dynamic rhythm, highlighting the morphology of the body. The metal structure, which is carefully designed to envelop the human figure, ultimately takes on a sculptural form. Just like orthopaedic braces, the pieces of jewellery are designed to allow the body to move, yet seem to keep it in a constant state of immobility. This paradox eventually raises a question: do these objects enable or restrain the body’s movements?
DESIGN FOR LUXURY & CRAFTSMANSHIP
by Marine Col
Ropy is a seriously playful stool that plays with the past. Designed in a single, light stroke, this object draws its charm from the reuse of materials. Old naval ropes from the port of Lausanne, their colours tarnished by time, serve as raw material and become precious material once the object has been made.
DESIGN FOR LUXURY & CRAFTSMANSHIP
by Anaïs Sulmoni
Once prized and valued by craftspeople, bone is now perceived as dirty and worthless. Yet, it is still widely used by cosmetics and food industries. It has appealed to me for many years because of its similarity to ivory and because of its living aspect, even though it represents death. Drawing on the abundance of this organic waste, I set out to recreate the prestige of ivory. I discovered the potential of bone as glue and powder, applied to different supports: solid wood, wood shavings and fabrics. The research book and models highlight bone, which presents new aesthetic and structural possibilities and acts as the first step towards reconciliation with this precious material.
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
with Stephane Halmai-Voisard, Christian Spiess, Carolien Niebling
My project focuses on the exploration of sanitary facilities, specifically their spatial layout, use and form. In the context of refurbishment, my project aims to transform the bathroom into an independent, self-contained unit. This fundamental shift provides the framework for a new typology: the fragmented bathroom.
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
with Stephane Halmai-Voisard, Christian Spiess, Carolien Niebling
I met a professional frame artisan who specialises in custom-made frames. During our conversations, she mentioned the lack of innovative designs in the frame options available in her catalogue and the changing preferences of her customers. This inspired me to design new frames. My project involves creating frames with a range of five different styles for various types of frames: wall-mounted, placed on tabletops, or free-standing. What is more, these frames can be combined in different ways, offering exciting possibilities and fresh visual aesthetics. By expanding the range of frame options, my project allows framers to offer a wider selection and provide greater customisation to customers looking for unique frames with a modern design.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
by Elina Crespi
Metamorphoses is a video game installation that lets you develop your world by exploring its different dimensions. It is an organic machine that represents a harmony of opposites, a duality between machine and human. There is a balance to be found: should the machine adapt to the human or the human to the machine? Human to human? Machine to machine? By participating in Metamorphoses, players are invited to create connections by plugging in a jack cable to solve enigmas. They actively engage in the narrative and interact with the environment. The organic machine embodies a duality by making natural and technological elements coexist in an interactive and changing environment, thereby prompting introspection about our own world.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
by Lily Rose Hold
Dotto is a digital puzzle game that draws inspiration from classic dot-to-dot games. It combines connecting dots with the satisfaction of creating vector graphics. As you navigate through the collection of puzzles, you embark on a journey of discovery. Each connected dot unveils a part of the underlying artwork, gradually bringing it to life with every connection. A blend of satisfying gameplay and the celebration of vector Illustration, Dotto offers an experience for puzzle enthusiasts and those who love graphic illustration alike.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
by Julien Caulet
My project is a tool that allows a musician, in this case Iya Ko, to offer their community a privileged role in the process of organising a concert. By using Instagram in unconventional ways, Groove Electric: The Odyssey presents a narrative in the form of an interactive series that invites the audience to participate in the concert’s implementation process until the day of the performance. This project is aimed at artists who want to strengthen and expand their community. The goal is to create an original platform that enables the artist to develop new “human” connections with their audience while promoting their work. This closeness should nourish both the artist and the community, which will play a central role in the creative process of certain projects.
PHOTOGRAPHY
by Gwendoline Albasini
Dear Kingdom is a story told through storytelling. A fictional figure embodies the princess trapped in her role, the horse who frees her and the witch who casts a spell. These archetypes confront intimate questions about the female gender and seek to dismantle collective ideals. The dream castle, once we look beyond its ramparts, vanishes into thin air. The video immerses the viewer in a world as majestic as it is oppressive. The soundtrack consists of singing and violin. The sounds can be both powerful and frail, revealing the beauty of the disparities. “Dear Kingdom is an appeal to the projections of a social and personal ideal. In this message there is a desire to share my path in this imposing, theatrical and fanciful universe.“
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
by Tickie Bindner
Sazen City immerses us into the collective landscape of our memories. Each participant takes part in the experience by exploring a territory, then sending digital postcards that generate a dynamic and imaginary map. Unlike photos of panoramas or cities, these digital cards depict memories, universal moments and emotions, revealing a new form of epistolary exchange that is more suited to our digital spaces. Inspired by Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, Sazen City employs machine learning to co-create a collective space. As it evolves, this shared landscape questions the individuality of our memories and the role of artificial imagination in our digital environments.
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
by Arthur Lucchesi
The RWM MK1 is an experimental electronic synthesiser that captures and transforms radio signals, creating intriguing sounds and soundscapes. This instrument interacts with terrestrial and cosmic electromagnetic radiation, enabling us to listen to distant echoes from the far reaches of the universe. It consists of two PCB plates with a tangible interface for real-time interaction with these waves. Musicians can also add sound effects, enhancing the experience. My project is inspired by Jocelyn Bell’s discovery of pulsars, NASA’s SETI program, the Wow Signal and the works of musicians such as Tim Hecker and Gustav Holst.
FINE ARTS
by Lou-Anna Ulloa del Rio
“I think that the goal of installation art should be to create an experience between objects so that viewers are transported outside themselves to recognise a larger, more complex world.” – Julie Becker
MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN
by Niki Zaal
Waazo is a mobile game that connects unknown participants for a social and friendly experience. It is an experience where virtual reality and reality come together. Today, smartphones and social networks connect us with people far away, but they can also separate us from our physical surroundings. This interactive game uses this hyper-connectivity to reconnect people in a specific location, paradoxically. The game draws inspiration from our childhood games, such as Where’s Waldo? or Cluedo. Using their phone, each participant explores the people around them to discover unknown individuals. Subtle clues like their posture, mood or main accessory will guide the player in this quest for encounters.
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
with Stephane Halmai-Voisard, Christian Spiess, Carolien Niebling
For my graduation project, I have studied the future of ski resorts in the face of diminishing snow cover. Many low- to medium-altitude resorts have had to close due to global warming. Around 180 resorts in France have closed, leaving the lift pylons abandoned. I propose to transform these pylons into perched accommodation to offer a unique mountain experience and create a new tourist attraction. The perched units, located at a height of 10 meters, will offer exceptional panoramic views of the mountain landscape. Inspired by the traditional architecture of mountain huts, they will combine modern comfort with alpine authenticity, promoting harmony with the surrounding natural environment.