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2006 2024
Richard Authier. Design and industry in Northern Vaud

Richard Authier. Design and industry in Northern Vaud

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.

VAUD-O-RAMA – JEUX OLYMPIQUES PARIS 2024

VAUD-O-RAMA – JEUX OLYMPIQUES PARIS 2024

with Julien Gurtner, Vincent Jacquier, Matthieu Minguet, Anthony Guex

As part of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the canton of Vaud has commissioned ECAL to create an original work of art, on view from July 24 to September 8 in the Maison suisse set up for the occasion in the courtyard of the Swiss Embassy in Paris. Comprising some twenty synchronized screens offering a panoramic view of the canton and its major assets, Vaud-o-rama aims to promote the region and forge links with the public, helping them to discover its richness and diversity. Inspired by the diorama museal device, this installation offers a dynamic and immersive showcase for the canton of Vaud, highlighting four key areas: Innovation, Education, Culture and Sport. It presents a varied portrait of the canton and offers a current view of its activities. In this way, the canton of Vaud reveals itself as a center of excellence for research and innovation, a cutting-edge learning ground, a mecca for cultural creation and a sports ecosystem that is unique in the world.

Service Design - 2024

GRAPHIC DESIGN

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

PHOTOGRAPHY

Service Design - 2024

with Angelo Benedetto, Vincent Jacquier, Pauline Saglio, Calypso Mahieu

During the Service Design course, the 3rd year of the Graphic Design, Photography and Media & Interaction Design bachelors had to create multi-media projects. A collaboration of the Visual Communication department which had as subject the SDGs (*Sustainable Development Goals). The theme was called "For a good cause, make the SDGs a reality" and its objective was to allow students to develop a cause that is close to their hearts. Each project consists of at least two different media, one primary and one secondary. These projects could take any form that the students deemed relevant, be it a website, editions, posters, a video sequence or virtual reality.

SYNC SCREEN

GRAPHIC DESIGN

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

PHOTOGRAPHY

SYNC SCREEN

with Charlotte Krieger, Jean-Vincent Simonet, Florian Pittet (Sigmasix), Vincent Jacquier, Julien Gurtner, Matthieu Minguet, Cédric Duchêne, EPFL+ECAL Lab, Giacomo Bastianelli

For a week, the first-year visual communications students worked on an installation consisting of 15 screens, accompanied by a 360° sound system developed by EPFL+ECAL Lab. This chandelier, five metres in diameter and suspended from a height of three metres, served as a support for their experiments. Using music specially composed and spatialised for the occasion, the students explored the dynamics of sound both visually and in movement.

SLAP !

FINE ARTS

SLAP !

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.

“The Eskimo in the Mojave Desert”: Herbert Matter, a Designer Across Scenes and Genres

“The Eskimo in the Mojave Desert”: Herbert Matter, a Designer Across Scenes and Genres

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.

Beyond Bézier. Explorations of drawing methods in type design

TYPE DESIGN

Beyond Bézier. Explorations of drawing methods in 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.

Tribute to Masterpieces

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Tribute to Masterpieces

with Elodie Anglade

Selection of animated sequences made during a 3D course directed by Elodie Anglade. The students were inspired by a painting and transcribed it into three different scenes.

The Manufacture of Type for Typewriters in Switzerland

The Manufacture of Type for Typewriters in Switzerland

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.

Vietnamese objects: The material culture of resilience in the face of (de)colonisation

Vietnamese objects: The material culture of resilience in the face of (de)colonisation

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.

PROJECTIONS XXL

GRAPHIC DESIGN

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

PHOTOGRAPHY

PROJECTIONS XXL

with Sami Benhadj, Vincent Jacquier

An immersive and magnetic visual environment, created by ECAL students, illuminates the facades of the mudac and Photo Elysée building. As part of an interdisciplinary project within the Visual Communication department of ECAL, students in the Photography, Graphic Design and Media & Interaction Design Bachelors programs developed immersive video projects designed to adorn the facades of Photo Elysée.

Anthracite

GRAPHIC DESIGN

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

PHOTOGRAPHY

Anthracite

by Emma Grosu, Seraphine Sallin-Mason, Rebecca Alfandary

The Anthracite project aims to raise public awareness about the dangers of light pollution, which threatens the survival of nocturnal insects and impacts biodiversity in Switzerland. Through a carefully crafted edition blending scientific outreach and photography, the project strikes a delicate balance between poetry and urgency. Anthracite also takes shape in two additional formats: a visual installation made up of striking images, and a teaser video. These mediums of awareness immerse the audience by adopting the perspective of an insect, inviting viewers to directly experience the effects of human-caused pollution. Ultimately, the project seeks to inspire greater protection for the vulnerable insects at risk.

Automated Photography at Foto/Industria

PHOTOGRAPHY

Automated Photography at Foto/Industria

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.

The Cultural Turn in Swiss Graphic Design from the 1980s to 2020

The Cultural Turn in Swiss Graphic Design from the 1980s to 2020

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.

Archive as a Creative Act: The Absolute Cinema of Gregory J. Markopoulos and the Temenos Utopia

FINE ARTS

FILM STUDIES

FINE ARTS

FILM STUDIES

Archive as a Creative Act: The Absolute Cinema of Gregory J. Markopoulos and the Temenos Utopia

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.

The Raving Age. Histories and figures of youth

UNITE DE THEORIE

FINE ARTS

The Raving Age. Histories and figures of youth

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.

A Third Hand – Creative Applications for Robotics

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

A Third Hand – Creative Applications for Robotics

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.

Sétay - Singuliers

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Sétay - Singuliers

with Sami Benhadj

Music video made by Julie Turin and Charlotte Pralong during the second year video course in Visual Communication Bachelor.

Triptychs

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Triptychs

with Benjamin Muzzin

Selection of animated sequences made during a 3D course directed by Benjamin Muzzin. The students were inspired by a painting and transcribed it into three different scenes.

Catharsis - RestoGastro

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Catharsis - RestoGastro

with Sami Benhadj

Music video made by Théo Déchanez and Viktor Gagné during the second year video course in Visual Communication Bachelor.

Chelan - London

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Chelan - London

with Sami Benhadj

Music video made by Jérémie Kursner and Alexandre Gambarini during the second year video course in Visual Communication Bachelor.

Magazine - 2023

GRAPHIC DESIGN

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

PHOTOGRAPHY

Magazine - 2023

with Anouk Schneider Agabekov, Chi-Long Trieu

As part of the magazine course led by Anouk Schneider and Chi-Long Trieu, 2nd-year Visual Communication students had the opportunity to design a magazine during the second semester. Students were encouraged to explore their artistic freedom at all stages of creation, whether it be in terms of format, paper choice, binding, layout, illustrations, text, or typography. In this course, the magazine can take shape through various forms of illustrations, such as photography, reproduction, contextualization, drawing, 3D, etc. The focus is on the artist's vision and the methods used to bring it to life. Students take on multiple roles as editor, curator, and architect, covering responsibilities such as art director, designer, photographer, stylist, illustrator, typographer, editor-in-chief, and editorial assistant. This course highlights contemporary editorial design by exploring the narrative potential of a well-structured content sequence.

Redesign

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

PHOTOGRAPHY

Redesign

with Giliane Cachin

As part of the course given by Giliane Cachin, 1st year students are required to produce an edition by examining the different axes that make it up. The course offers a study of various grid systems and the fundamentals of micro-typography. During the semester, students will look for the best way to structure and arrange the content they have chosen (or which has been assigned to them, depending on the semester's data). Some essential rules to know in terms of printing and bindings will be reviewed at the end of the semester, in order to bring the conceptualized object to life.

U.F.O.G.O. Wind Turbines

PRODUCT DESIGN

U.F.O.G.O. Wind Turbines

with Camille Blin, Anniina Koivu, Anthony Guex, Marvin Merkel, Arthur Seguin

In 2023, the significant role of renewable energies in tackling the environmental crisis is blatant. In this context, wind power has once again been presented as a promising avenue for regions seeking to transition to renewable energy. However, concerns about their visual intrusion on surrounding environments pose a significant obstacle to their deployment. From a design perspective, this aesthetical factor is not insurmountable. On the contrary, it highlights the need for greater consideration of how we shape these technologies and integrate them into the environment and our lives. This project, completed by 16 MA Product Design Students of ECAL, has set out to explore how wind turbines can fit into natural landscapes and cultures not only sensitively, but beautifully – if we focus on their design. To complete the project effectively, a case study location was required. Fogo Island (Newfoundland, Canada), described locally as "this rock in the battering Northern Sea," was chosen due to its natural beauty, abundant wind, and tight-knit community of approximately 2,500 inhabitants. The island's climate and geography make it ideal for wind turbines. Additionally, Fogo Island is home to Shorefast, a non-profit organization dedicated to building a sustainable, renewable economy for the island. In October 2022, the students and tutors of ECAL visited and immersed themselves in Fogo Island. The project resulted in eight speculative yet practical wind turbine designs, considerately informed by various perspectives. U.F.O.G.O. is a sustainability project  grounded in reality, but not limited by what already is. Collaboration Partners: Shorefast HEIG-VD/School of Management and Engineering Vaud (Marc Pellerin, Philippe Morey and Marco Viviani) Media Partner: Disegno Funding: Summer University Programme of the Board of Higher Education (DGES) State of Vaud HES-SO Recherche Transdisciplinaire en Durabilite (under the project title 'INTEGRATED WIND TURBINES’)

L'Or Bleu

FOUNDATION YEAR

L'Or Bleu

with Nicolas Haeni

Une exposition par les étudiant·e·s en Année Propédeutique – option Photographie de l’ECAL/Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne Sous la direction du photographe Nicolas Haeni, les étudiant·e·s invitent à se questionner sur la symbolique de l’eau. Depuis la nuit des temps, cet or bleu intrigue et inspire, laissant naître des interprétations qui, encore aujourd’hui, et peut-être même plus que jamais, habitent la littérature, les arts visuels ou encore les arts vivants. Partant de la citation de l’astrophysicien Hubert Reeves « À l’échelle cosmique, l’eau liquide est plus rare que l’or », les jeunes photographes proposent leur vision personnelle et individuelle, en explorant différents domaines de la photographie : nature morte, portrait, architecture ou mise en scène. Photos © ECAL/Marvin Merkel

Le livre d’artiste - 2022

GRAPHIC DESIGN

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

PHOTOGRAPHY

Le livre d’artiste - 2022

with Anouk Schneider Agabekov, Chi-Long Trieu

As part of the publishing course led by Anouk Schneider and Chi-Long Trieu, 2nd year Visual Communication students had the opportunity to design an artist's book during the first semester. This book project stands out for its contemporary approach aimed at creating an editorial object that harmoniously integrates form and content in the current context of the editorial landscape. Students were encouraged to exploit their artistic freedom at all levels of creation, whether in terms of format, choice of paper, binding, layout, illustrations, text or typography. As part of this course, the artist's book can take shape through various illustration modalities, such as photography, reproduction, contextualization, drawing, 3D, etc. The emphasis is on the author's artistic vision and the means implemented to realize it. Students take on multiple roles as editor, curator and architect, covering the responsibilities of artistic director, designer, photographer, stylist, illustrator, typographer, editor-in-chief, and editorial secretary. This course highlights contemporary editorial design by exploring the narrative potential of a sequence of controlled content.

Redesign 2022

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

PHOTOGRAPHY

Redesign 2022

with Giliane Cachin

As part of the course given by Giliane Cachin, 1st year students are required to produce an edition by examining the different axes that make it up. The course offers a study of various grid systems and the fundamentals of micro-typography. During the semester, students will look for the best way to structure and arrange the content they have chosen (or which has been assigned to them, depending on the semester's data). Some essential rules to know in terms of printing and bindings will be reviewed at the end of the semester, in order to bring the conceptualized object to life.

Service Design - 2023

GRAPHIC DESIGN

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

PHOTOGRAPHY

Service Design - 2023

with Angelo Benedetto, Vincent Jacquier, Pauline Saglio

During the service design course, the 3rd year of the Graphic Design, Photography and Media & Interaction Design bachelor's degree programs realized multi-media projects. A collaboration of the Visual Communication department with the theme of SDGs (*Sustainable Development Goals). The theme named "For a good cause, make the SDGS a reality" aims to develop a cause close to the heart of the different student groups. Each project is composed of at least two different supports, one primary and one secondary. The projects could therefore take any form the students deemed relevant, be it a website, editions and posters, a video sequence, or even virtual reality.

Automated Photography at the Maison Franco-Japonsaie

PHOTOGRAPHY

Automated Photography at the Maison Franco-Japonsaie

with Milo Keller, Clément Lambelet

From February 3 to 19, 2023, on the occasion of Yebisu International Festival for Art and Alternative Visions in Tokyo, ECAL is exporting the exhibition resulting from the Automated Photography research project, which explores the aesthetic and conceptual potential of automated photography.

ECAL in Seoul : exhibition Automated Photography

PHOTOGRAPHY

ECAL in Seoul : exhibition Automated Photography

with Milo Keller

Following the success of the exhibition resulting from the Automated Photography research project at Paris Photo in 2021 and then at the Galerie l'elac in 2022, the ECAL is exporting this project to Plateform-L in Seoul from 17 September to 8 October 2022, through an immersive audiovisual exhibition.

Diploma jury 2022

DESIGN FOR LUXURY & CRAFTSMANSHIP

Diploma jury 2022

Jury : Céline Vogt, Head of Education, Michelangelo Foundation, Geneva Chiara Anelli, Communication Director, Hermès Switzerland, Geneva Philippe Malouin, Designer, London Prix De Bethune : Camille Dutoit

HOW SOON IS NOW? HISTORIES AND FIGURES OF YOUTH

FINE ARTS

HOW SOON IS NOW? HISTORIES AND FIGURES OF YOUTH

Symposium : HOW SOON IS NOW? HISTORIES AND FIGURES OF YOUTH This symposium is the first stage of the research project How Soon Is Now? Histories and Figures of Youth. It questions “youth” as a conceptual, aesthetic, andpolitical figure born with modernity in the visual arts, popular culture, and the humanities. At the same time, this project proposes to examine the implications ofthe problematic category of "youth" in contemporary art and thought. By exploring the processes in which youth is constituted through its forms of representation, thisproject intends to render intelligible the aesthetic and political dimensions of youth, and to grasp it as a historical allegory allowing for a reconsideration of thecontemporary in the light of its most lively site. What image(s) does the notion of youth carry with it? What idea does it have of itself? How can we talk about it beyond ingrained ideas and the fantasies that society projects on it (at least in Western culture), making it simultaneously a force, a market, an age, a culture, a piece of a history which which we only began writing inthe twentieth-century, and which today has reached its critical stage? In recent history, the notion of youth has so often been conflated with “bringing down the house” that we now expect everything from it: to reinvent us, to shake us up, to carry us, to succeed in what others have failed at (establishing the most open communities possible), to build bridges for the future, to be radical, to be uncompromising where anyone outside of youth has already given up, to be desirable where others are overwhelmed. But with what means? If not those that young people make themselves, for themselves, with elements that they alone will have chosen? With their culture, their places, their clandestinity. Because that which is not yet over happens in the shadows of the world. Youth is a secret. “How Soon Is Now?”, The Smiths once asked. When is it, now?

Jury Réseau Cinéma CH

FILM STUDIES

Jury Réseau Cinéma CH

Participation of Master Cinema students Léa Célestine Bernasconi and Leopold Helbich Frey in the Jury of the Réseau Cinéma CH during the 35th edition of the Fribourg International Film Festival (FIFF)

Photographic revelation

PHOTOGRAPHY

Photographic revelation

with Laurence Bonvin

Stammering This involves taking an idea, a project in progress or a project that has already been completed but not satisfactorily, and pushing it further, both from a conceptual and/or aesthetic point of view, as well as from a production point of view. To experience what can be improved in a project compared to a first realisation. Revisiting a classic. It is also about testing ideas, taking risks, pushing a process further, experimenting.

Photographic Editions

PHOTOGRAPHY

Photographic Editions

with RVB Books/Matthieu Charon & Rémi Faucheux

Starting from the premise that the book constitutes both an alternative practice to the exhibition and an alternative exhibition practice - alternative exhibition practices insofar as the book and the printed word are essentially modes of visibility of art; alternative practices to the exhibition because this means of visibility is very different from what is usually called an exhibition - we consider the book to be the medium that is perfectly suited to soon-to-be-graduated photographers.

Photographic installation

PHOTOGRAPHY

Photographic installation

with Marco Poloni

The Future, Inverted, or: Avoiding Stupidity Produce a visual and sound image device - moving and still images, objects, sounds and texts - that articulates a future and your model for thinking about it. This future can be possible, probable or preferred, personal or social.

Création photographique

PHOTOGRAPHY

Création photographique

with Natacha Lesueur

The students develop a project over the whole semester, on a freely chosen subject, by submitting it regularly to the critical eye and advice of the professor. Argumentation and analysis are stimulated. The aim is to examine the issues involved in photography as an author and to develop a personal expression, which could potentially lead to the students' diploma work. Particular attention is paid to the argumentation of the work, at the different stages of its development.

Photographie et Art plastiques

PHOTOGRAPHY

Photographie et Art plastiques

with Natacha Lesueur

Based on projects around a common theme, the students develop a personal and in-depth work over the entire semester. The project must be developed, clarified, modified if necessary, and enriched throughout the semester, as the students conduct research, reflections, and experiments, and as they consult with the professor. During these regular consultations, the students address the various aspects related to the conception, production and realization of a photographic work...

Photographie et Art plastiques

PHOTOGRAPHY

Photographie et Art plastiques

with Milo Keller

The course aims to develop a particular knowledge and sensitivity for all types of light. It invites the students to free creation, to the autonomy of elaboration and realization of a personal project.

VR Sequences 2022

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

VR Sequences 2022

with Sami Benhadj

VR Music Video projects created by second-year students in the Bachelor of Media & Interaction Design program.

Service Design - 2022

GRAPHIC DESIGN

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Service Design - 2022

with Angelo Benedetto, Vincent Jacquier, Pauline Saglio

During the Service Design course, the 3rd year of the Graphic Design, Photography and Media & Interaction Design bachelors had to create multi-media projects. A collaboration of the Visual Communication department which had as subject the SDGs (*Sustainable Development Goals). The theme was called "For a good cause, make the SDGs a reality" and its objective was to allow students to develop a cause that is close to their hearts. Each project consists of at least two different media, one primary and one secondary. These projects could take any form that the students deemed relevant, be it a website, editions, posters, a video sequence or virtual reality.

Higurashi book launch

PHOTOGRAPHY

Higurashi book launch

with Milo Keller, MAP

In Summer 2019, thirteen students from the ECAL Master’s in Photography programme supervised by Milo Keller travelled to Japan to work on thirteen individual projects in collaboration with Japanese photographer Taisuke Koyama within the framework of the Tokyo Photographic Research project. The students’ artworks range from still and moving images to computer-generated photographic visuals and explore multiple facets of the Japanese megalopolis which is, once again, undergoing major transformation in preparation for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. Some projects focus on aspects specific to the city, from the destruction of small residential houses to the construction of the gigantic Olympic Village and the conquest of new territories by the sea. Other works investigate distinctive Japanese culture such as home-cooked food, the appetite for designing humanoid robots, the blending of child and adult worlds in manga, pachinko gambling, the reinvention of ikebana and young girls as ‘rising stars.’ Finally, the works seek to visually represent more abstract concepts such as loneliness, emptiness and intimacy in a city that, due to its density, size and power, offers a challenging, fascinating and extremely stimulating complexity to the eyes of the thirteen photographers. Higurashi has been presented at Espace Commines in Paris in November 2021, inside the exhibition Automated Photography during Paris Photo. Head of Photography Milo Keller Invited Teacher Taisuke Koyama Assistants Florian Amoser Calum Douglas Graphic Design Thomas Le Provost Typefaces Craft by ECAL/Benoit Brun & Raphaël De la Morinerie ITC Garamond Std Head of Culture and Communications Embassy of Switzerland in Japan Jonas Pulver DGES/Summer University Maxline Stettler Photography Students Emidio Battipaglia Robin Bervini Jasmine Deporta Anja Karolina Furrer Alessia Gunawan Christian Harker Jung-Ting Hu Johanna Hullár Philipp Klak Doruk Kumkumoglu Igor Pjörrt Jelly Luise Gedvile Tamosiunaite Publisher ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne higurashi.zone Higurashi is available at  ecal-shop.ch .

(Re-)Viewing Paik

(Re-)Viewing Paik

with Patrick Keller

(Re-)Viewing Paik is a joint research initiative between Switzerland and South-Korea that involves Prof. Patrick Keller from ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne (HES-SO), Dr. Sang Ae Park from the Nam June Paik Art Center and archives (NJPAC) in South Korea, and Dr. Christian Babski from fabric | ch, an architecture and information technology collective based in Lausanne. The main long-term objective of this joint and interdisciplinary research, based on the archives of Korean artist Nam June Paik (1932–2006), is to establish novel types of online exhibition curating and design, which must take shape digitally at any viewer's (visitor's) place or housing, and to virtually populate it, in an autonomous way. The results of this initial joint work, which will take the form of a functional "demo" (proof of concept), will be used in parallel to formulate a more detailed research project which will then be submitted to a national funding agency.

Diploma jury 2021

DESIGN FOR LUXURY & CRAFTSMANSHIP

Diploma jury 2021

Jury : Nieves Contreras, Creative Director, Lladro, Valencia Alberto Cavalli, Director, Michelangelo Foundation, Geneva Guillaume Delvigne, Designer, Paris Prix De Bethune : Sarah Yao

Excerpts from Master Type Design theses

TYPE DESIGN

Excerpts from Master Type Design theses

with Anniina Koivu, Roland Früh, Wayne Daly

Excerpts from Master Product Design theses

PRODUCT DESIGN

Excerpts from Master Product Design theses

with Anniina Koivu

AUTHOR: Adam Huxley-Khng TITLE: ON in the absence of OFF On and off – at the flick of a switch, or the touch of a button. We are able to switch between the states of being of an object without thought, rarely questioning what makes an object ‘on’. Is it the presence of electric power? A sense of agency, or animism? What if on-ness is a state of being reflected by the cultural, rather than technological, capacity of an object – the embodiment of a moment of possibility? ----- AUTHOR: Alessandro Simone TITLE: What is next? SUBTITLE: The evolution of mountaineering and human limits This research examines the mountain landscape in the context of the evolution of mountaineering. Starting from the activity’s origin, the research investigates the shifts in technology, mindset, and limits that enabled the transformation of a destination for challenging expeditions into a place for second homes and weekend enthusiasts. How were humans able to overcome their limits, and what were the motivations for this drive? Products and objects played an essential role in guiding the story of mountaineering from the old ages to nowadays, making the user and his/her experience safer, but subsequently opening this terrain to mass tourism. This research retraces historical events and technical innovations to better understand mountaineering’s evolution, imagining a possible approach to this form of high-altitude tourism for the future. ----- AUTHOR: Alexander Schul TITLE: Visual language of sustainable design Different “sustainable” design proposals have been made in the past decades: from (literally) green looking objects, to normal looking ones, to objects whose visual language speaks to sustainability in their own individual way. In this research, I analyse a few examples in regards to the way the visual language of sustainable products has been approached in the past, what sustainable design looks like today, as well as what it will look like in the near future. The essay is led by the question “How does a sustainable approach to an object influence its visual language?” ----- AUTHOR: Charlotta Åman TITLE: Waste matters SUBTITLE: Valorising secondary products for a resourceful future Throughout history, humans have been expert in utilising every element of a given re­source. The heritage of husbandry has been car­ried from generation to generation – until today. Now, we are more disconnected than ever from original assets. In present manufacturing processes, secondary matter from production is often considered as waste rather than as a resource – an unfortunate conclusion as we are running out of raw materials and landfills grow. What does it entail to fully utilise a resource by valorising its secondary products, and how does it relate to the practice of a designer? The loose connections in manufacturing chains provide an opportunity to re-think: by considering the source, the scale and the system, design can be used as a tool for transition. ----- AUTHOR: Grace, Ka Yin Cheung TITLE: Japanese miniature culture: netsuke and gachapon SUBTITLE: Why are we so fascinated with small things? Miniatures are smaller than a normal objects, and include small replicas or models. Miniatures are present in different cultures all over the world and throughout time. The miniaturisation of mundane objects is recurrent, and has been an integral part of the memory of a culture. Among the different international miniature cultures, Japan has one of the most distinctive and apparent spirits of miniaturisation. To understand why people are so fascinated with miniatures, this research looks for the answers by delving into the miniature culture of netsuke and gachapon in Japan. ----- AUTHOR: Hsin Hung Chou TITLE: Unpack flat-pack SUBTITLE: The value of ready-to-assemble furniture This research studies flat-packing from its origins in the mid-19th century to its contemporary form as one of the prevailing typologies of the global furniture industry. Guiding questions have been: If the objective is to design and produce products from a logistical and sustainable point of view, is there any other solution to knock-down furniture? Does furniture lose its aesthetic and value in the process of being flat-packed? If the future is flat, could we make it better? ----- AUTHOR: Jimin Jeon TITLE: Soft, small and far, far away SUBTITLE: Our understanding of software Fire is the first profound tool in human history that cannot be grasped with the naked hand. Fire was considered a mysterious or religious thing – a gift from God, or punishment. But it was also an essential tool for human evolution. Today, we have found another tool surrounded by mystery and misunderstandings: software. It doesn’t smell, make noise, or come in any fixed form. It just occasionally flickers through a screen. This new tool takes us to another world, beyond physical limitations, that no caveman could have imagined. But, first, we need to understand the nature of software in relation to hardware – that is, the tools we are already familiar with. ----- AUTHOR: Jisan Chung TITLE: Assemblage in design Assemblage is mainly considered an artistic technique. However, by reviewing works of various designers, we can see that the same technique has been used in the field of design, too. This study aims to examine the characteristics and the meaning of “assemblage design” and its potential. Assemblage can trigger innovate manufacturing processes and create its very own aesthetic. ----- AUTHOR: Jonas Villiger TITLE: About repairability SUBTITLE: Rules, incentives and approaches to keeping things in circulation We want our products to be durable. And, if they break or become outdated, they should be repairable and upgradeable, too. It can be a very satisfying feeling to make something work again, or to make it work even better than it did before. Unfortunately, the industry does not make this easy for consumers. Not being able to intervene when something goes wrong with an object, consumers end up simply buying new things. However, giving a device an extended lifespan keeps us from wasting valuable resources. Starting from recent legislation and public movements that call for the right to repair, this research questions the role of designers within these changing circumstances. ----- AUTHOR: Julian Ribler TITLE: The Factory SUBTITLE: An investigation into modern design principles The Modernist movement promoted the appreciation of the advancements of industry. Modernism went on to integrate industrial advancement as part of the fundamentals of the movement as a whole. The principle of applying an engineer’s perspective was thought to inform the practice of designers and architects. Exploring modern factory environments and investigating the advancements in manufacturing technology today can help us revise these principles and examine the changing factory context. ----- AUTHOR: Kwan Ming Sum TITLE: Stagnation and innovation in the wheelchair industry A wheelchair is an essential tool for people with mobility issues to perform everyday tasks and achieve social participation. Unfortunately, modern manual wheelchairs hardly satisfy the emerging need of a well-resolved wheelchair design. A fundamental shift in understanding of today’s needs and innovation in this field are urgently required. Given the growth of the aging population, a rethink of wheelchair design is critical. Through conducting several interviews with different stakeholders, including wheelchair users, producers, and designers, this research aims to investigate the underlying reasons behind the stagnation in the wheelchair industry, and looks at how that might change. ----- AUTHOR: Maxwell Ashford TITLE: Fractions SUBTITLE: Cost-effective recycling A fraction is the result of any recycling process. It refers to the amount of materials from an object that can be recycled cost effectively, and is used broadly across the recycling industry. Objects are by standard practises designed independently from any end-of-life system and inevitably, the result is that objects cannot be effectively recycled. Historically, there has been little incentive for producers, and thus designers, to deal with the death or disposal of objects. But this is due to change, as incoming legislation from the EU will force producers to use recycled materials and create more recyclable objects. In turn, this demand will affect designers. So how can we work to create more sustainable goods? ----- AUTHOR: Nadav Goldenberg TITLE: Empire State of Play SUBTITLE: Playground design in the urban environment How did the design of playgrounds evolve throughout history? And how does the urban environment play a part in their evolution? To answer these questions, I look at New York City. Here, we see a dense urban space for play development, with a long history of constant shifts in play ideals, safety regulations and the pioneering of playground design. ----- AUTHOR: Oscar Kwong TITLE: Comfort and the curve The curve exists in all ranges of expression, from the flamboyant to the modest. In the past decade there have been multiple studies that have set out to confirm our instinctual desires for the curvaceous shape, proving in every measurable scenario that humans prefer the round compared to the rectilinear. This intuitive response to the curve has been hard-wired as part of our evolutionary bias. The relationship that connects comfort and the curve will be the premise of this essay: from the buildings of Sanaa that employs the familiar curve, as a reminder of our connection with nature; to trace the postures supported by the comfy lounge and its intimate bond with the human body; to the conforming contours of everyday objects. ----- AUTHOR: Silvio Rebholz TITLE: TV studio sets SUBTITLE: A space for reality and fiction TV studio sets are spatial constructions in which TV formats such as news, talk shows or game shows are produced. On these sets, hosts interact with guests, newsreaders broadcast informa­tion and hosts entertain – always with the intention of reproducing the scene on screens. Focusing on the designs of TV studio sets, it is striking how unusually shaped they are. Elaborately sweeping curves of sofas; LEDs highlighting the edges of a desk. Remarkably, these and other exceptional elements aren’t isolated cases, but repeat across shows, broadcast genres and national borders. Their similarities suggest that it’s about more than free formal expression. What are the parameters for consideration in a “good” TV studio set? How did this unique style develop? ----- AUTHOR: Thomas Manil TITLE: The typology of coins This research project explores the history, production and formal language of coins. They are part of our lives and accompany our daily gestures. We give them, we receive them, we pocket them, or we place them carefully in a wallet. We have the impression that we know them very well, and yet, we have a hard time describing them with precision. It is an integral part of the country’s identity and embodies the link between art, design and technology. In a society that is gradually seeking to dematerialise money, the coin deserves special attention. ----- AUTHOR: Till Ronacher TITLE: The robotic arm Industrial robots have been involved in the manufacturing of products since the 1960s. But over the last decades, industrial robots have been moving out of the factories into new contexts such as architecture and design. Now, in some experimental contexts, digital fabrication is explored with the help of industrial robots. In such laboratories, the cooperation between humans and industrial robots is being investigated and applied in a design context, within which new forms and transformative design processes emerge. In this thesis, I examine some of these developments with regards to the possibilities of their integration into the design process. ----- AUTHOR: Trolle Rudebeck TITLE: A writing and drawing instrument In the age of typing, scrolling and audio-recording, cursive writing might seem endangered, particularly among younger generations. As handwriting has become more and more obsolete, it has come to be considered as a poetic or romantic act rather than a fundamental tool. Looking back to ancient civilizations and their instruments for drawing and writing, the pen’s stick-like shape has remained surprisingly constant. By looking to the past, could we predict the future of the pen?

Excerpts from Master Photography theses

PHOTOGRAPHY

Excerpts from Master Photography theses

with Anniina Koivu

AUTHOR: Sara Bastai TITLE: How to build a collective memory in the digital realm? SUBTITLE: Depicting humankind through methods of preservation It seems, sometimes, like today’s main focus of interest lies in how future societies will perceive us. The traces we might leave behind can significantly impact the history and interpretation of our current present. Can we rely on digital preservation? What should we document for the future? How can we represent and preserve society in the 21st century without being reduced to mere computational information processing? This master thesis is a speculative reflection on our current and past methods of preservation of social history. ------ AUTHOR: Maeva Bosko TITLE: Dream worlds SUBTITLE: What happens when we’re asleep? Since my early childhood, I have dreamt a lot. Sweet, pleasant or strange dreams, nightmares, sometimes even lucid dreams. Night is when I escape to these virtual worlds. But what are these worlds? Why are they so different from my ordinary waking world? I’ve even gotten to the point, on various occasions, when I preferred these dream states to my everyday reality. This is a research project into the world of dreams as an attempt to decode the unconsciousness in relation to the virtual universe and reality we experience at night. ------ AUTHOR: Natalie Maximova TITLE: Walking the landscape, in video games With a focus on landscape representation in video games called “walking simulators”, this thesis attempts to uncover questions related to a complex and ambiguous notion of landscape, from its original conception to today. During my research, I applied the interpretive approach of “reading” and decoding landscapes that have been used by geographers, as well as sociologists, artists and historians. Video game landscapes could be thought of as a system consisting of natural, man-made and cultural forces which can be identified and studied. The landscape in this case plays as a medium that combines, holds and channels these forces. If video game environments exist as part of our culture, what kind of connections do these virtual spaces form? This thesis tries to uncover processes behind the construction of the “natural” in video game environments. ------ AUTHOR: Joanna Wierzbicka TITLE: Why should our bodies end at the skin? SUBTITLE: Rethinking bodily matter beyond a humanist imagination This thesis follows the turn to matter within the fields of body studies, posthuman feminist theory, and new materialism in order to rethink the definition of what a body is and, more importantly, what a body can do. The main research objective is to find out how through questioning the definition of a body and the use of metaphorical thinking in this process, we can establish a more ethical living ground among other bodies. ------ AUTHOR: Olivia Wünsche TITLE: Myths shape reality After having lived a deeply transformative psychedelic experience, all previously held beliefs and perceptions which conditioned my relationship to the surrounding reality, suddenly broke free from the prison of mental programming and limited awareness. Different aspects of this internal change manifested through an almost visceral connection to the Earth. I started to direct my attention towards subjects revolving around environmental and humanitarian crisis, simultaneously wanting to find the cause that has led to our current state of separateness, in which we distance ourselves from others and from nature. I understood quite rapidly that socio-political problem-solving is undoubtedly urgent and indispensable, however it remains shallow and incomplete by treating symptoms without curing the cause. ------ AUTHOR: Zhang Manqin TITLE: A diamond-shaped egg This master thesis is based on different tools that can be used to explore the power of memory. Closely related to the author’s “I’m not a loner” photo installation, this research project combines fictional writing with the documentary approach of a diary.

Swiss Graphic Design and Typography Revisited

Swiss Graphic Design and Typography Revisited

with Davide Fornari, Jonas Berthod

The research project Swiss Graphic Design and Typography Revisited is divided into three sub-projects: ‘Principles of Education’, ‘Networks of Practice’ and ‘Strategies of Dissemination’. This three-year project is the biggest research collaboration established in the design field since the SNSF began its activities.

Paris - Else

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Paris - Else

with Sami Benhadj

Music video made by Elodie Anglade and Soraya Camina during the second year video course in Visual Communication Bachelor.

In the Blink of an Eye

MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

In the Blink of an Eye

with Sami Benhadj

Music video made by Jamy Herrmann and Mélanie Fontaine during the second year video course in Visual Communication Bachelor.

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