ECAL A Typographic Atlas in Leipzig,09.04–09.05.2026,HGB Gallery, Leipzig Curated by Master Type Design and Bachelor Graphic Design programmes, this project presents a wide selection of 300 typefaces created by ECAL students from around the world. Presented as a typographic atlas, the exhibition is structured around a single indexing approach. This system is translated into a modular display designed by Adrien Rovero. Alphabetical entries and numerical coordinates form a navigational framework, inviting visitors to move through a typographic territory. Typography is treated as a visual, cultural and linguistic practice, from experimental forms to functional families and multiscript projects, encouraging us to reconsider how type mediates everyday communication. This travelling exhibition reflects ECAL s long-standing commitment to contemporary graphic and type design. The Leipzig presentation also features a special collaboration with the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst (HGB) Type Design class and the HGB Gallery. ECAL A Typographic Atlas also comes in the form of a 536-page book published by Empire Books and designed by Giliane Cachin and Eurostandard. Previous stop Turin – Circolo del Design Next stops New York – The Cooper Union Montreal – UQAM Los Angeles – HMCT Gallery Paris – Program/me Lausanne – ECAL Tokyo – SKWAT Kameari Art Centre and more to come... DATES09.04–09.05.2026VENUEHGB Gallery Wächterstrasse 11, Leipzig, Allemagne 04107HEAD OF PROGRAMMES, Related event
SYMPOSIUM MASTER FINE ARTS,25.03.2026,IKEA Auditorium, ECAL Charlie Fox, Banu Cennetoğlu, Nolan Lucidi, Antoine Idier and Anna Franceschini have been invited to ECAL as part of the symposium What Do Bodies Do?, organised by the Master Fine Arts. For this day of symposium at ECAL, curated by the artist Shahryar Nashat, the body is the central figure – the “person of interest“. It is envisioned not as a passive object, but as a site of collision where control and rebellion confront each other, and where the personal is inextricably political. Our speakers show us that, in an era where power worships force, the body is the place where these tensions play out: in art, in activism and in the everyday struggle for existence and recognition. WEDNESDAY 25 marCH 9am Welcome coffee 9:30am-12pm Introduction by Shahryar Nashat Charlie Fox Banu Cennetoğlu 12pm-1pm Lunch break 1pm-4pm Nolan Lucidi Antoine Idier Anna Franceschini Q&A Lecturers Shahryar Nashat · Charlie Fox · Banu Cennetoğlu · Nolan Lucidi · Antoine Idier · Anna Franceschini Cet événement se déroulera en anglais.DATES & SCHEDULEMarch 25, 2026 9:30am-4pm Free entryVENUEIKEA Auditorium, ECAL
localhost:2026 – Break the loop,20–22.03.2026,Lausanne A festival for experimental media art and digital cultures, localhost returns for its second edition with three days of talks, workshops, and performances dedicated to experimental practices in digital art and design. Organized by METAA (Media Experiments in Technology and Art Association), the event brings together artists and designers who challenge conventional uses of digital technologies and explore new critical and creative approaches. This year s program expands to include two days of workshops at Pyxis – Digital Exploration, conferences and audiovisual performances at Espace Amaretto, as well as talks by the recipients of the METAA Release Candidate Award, graduates of Media & Interaction Design Bachelor at ECAL and Media Design at HEAD. Break the loop is the theme of the 2026 edition. In music as in code, the loop is a fundamental structure, comforting in its predictability. Central to creation, it resides in repeated gestures, processes, and methods. Breaking the loop is about interrupting what runs on autopilot, questioning habits and reliance on automation. It is opening practices to differing paths more in tune with the rhythm of the living. ECAL is a partner of the event and notably supports the workshop given by Vera van de Seyp. The designer and artist is the ECAL resident at La Becque during the spring semester of 2026 and will give a lecture at ECAL on March 19.DATES20.03–22.03.2026VENUESEspace Amaretto, Rue de Genève 97 B, Lausanne Pyxis, Place de la Cathédrale 6, LausanneTALKSaturday March 21, 2026 13h30, Espace Amaretto Unbubble , ECAL alumni Bachelor Media & Interaction Design, winner of the METAA Release Candidate Award 2025WORKSHOPSSaturday March 21, 2026 9h00-17h00, Pyxis "Digital Portraits" and , ECAL alumni Bachelor Media & Interaction Design 9h00, Pyxis "Break the Loop. Focusing on Generative Systems, Experimental Typography, and Custom Creative Tool" , ECAL resident at La Becque – sold out ! Sunday March 22, 2026 10h00, Pyxis "Introduction to Modular Synthesis with VCV Rack" , ECAL alumni Bachelor Media & Interaction DesignBOOKINGOnline or contact hello@metaa.ch for further information. Special rate for ECAL students.WEBSITElocalhost-festival.ch
100 Beste Plakate 2025: Two Posters from ECAL selected Congratulations to the ECAL Communication Team, whose posters were selected in the 100 Beste Plakate 2025 competition. The “ECAL Diplomas Exhibition 2025” and the “ECAL Open Day 2025” posters, both designed by Benoît Brun, ECAL graduate and graphic designer for its Communication Team, are part of the 62 posters from Switzerland selected in the 100 Beste Plakate 2025 competition. While the colors and stripes of the “ECAL Diplomas Exhibition 2025” poster echo the architecture of ECAL building, the design of the “ECAL Open Day 2025” poster alludes to a reinterpretation of a well-known proveb, suggesting that “All roads lead to ECAL”. This contest, which singles out 100 posters from Germany, Austria and Switzerland every year, aims to promote the poster as a powerful visual medium and to ensure its continuous reinvention and evolution. The selected works are presented in a travelling exhibition and a yearbook. The visual identity for this 25th edition of the competition, including the book, has been designed by Ira Ivanova and Lou Hillereau from Yukiko Studio. The opening of the inaugural exhibition, as well as the book launch, will take place on June 11, 2026 at the Kulturforum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. The exhibition will then tour in Germany, Austria and Switzerland — notably at the Gallery l elac in ECAL — as well as in Korea, Moldova and Romania.WEBSITE100 Beste PlakateOPENING EXHIBITION12.06–05.07.2026 Opening reception 11.06.2026, 6:30pm Germany Kulturforum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Matthäikirchplatz, 10785 Berlin, GermanyRELATED EVENTS
Enshittification - 2026 Many platforms degrade over time, shifting from useful tools into manipulative systems. In this workshop, we explore enshittification as a creative method by modifying existing websites or developing small web experiments that exaggerate friction, automation, overload, and disorientation in order to reveal the underlying logics.
Pratique Photographique 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.
ECAL Conference – Vera van de Seyp,19.03.2026, 18:00,IKEA Auditorium, ECAL The ECAL Media & Interaction Design department is pleased to welcome Vera van de Seyp for a talk about her practice as a computational designer, artist, and educator. The Media & Interaction Design department at ECAL is pleased to welcome Amsterdam (NL) and New York (US), based interaction designer Vera van de Seyp for a public lecture. At the intersection of graphic design and code, Vera van de Seyp is an interactive designer, artist, and educator. Her work focuses on generative design systems, experimental typography, and the creation of custom tools that explore how computational technologies can shape visual language. Her practice spans both digital and physical media, including experimental websites, online tools, printed publications, creative coding events, and textiles produced using a hacked knitting machine. Vera van de Seyp has collaborated with clients such as WIRED, Signal, and Google Creative Lab, as well as cultural and academic institutions, often translating complex ideas into accessible visual artifacts. Alongside her commissioned work, she develops research projects that build bridges between craft and computation. Vera van de Seyp is ECAL s artist-in-residence at La Becque during the Spring 2026 semester.DATES & SCHEDULEThursday 19 March 2026 at 6 pm Free entryVENUEIKEA Auditorium, ECALWEBSITEveravandeseyp.com
SWISS ART AWARDS 2026: ECAL NOMINEES Congratulations to the ECAL members featured in the Swiss Art Awards 2026 exhibition, from June 15 to 21. The Swiss Art Awards have been held annually since 1899 and reward Swiss artists and architects, as well as art and architecture mediators. The Kiefer Hablitzel│Göhner Art Prize applies to artists with a Bachelor s degree who are resident in Switzerland or artists under the age of 30 who are enrolled at a Swiss university. The Swiss Art Awards exhibition, which takes place alongside the Art Basel art fair, presents works by candidates selected for the second phase of these competitions and offers an overview of Swiss artistic creation. Several ECAL graduates have been nominated in the "Art" category of the Swiss Art Awards: Alfredo Aceto holds a Fine Arts Bachelor s (2014) and currently teaches students of the Propaedeutic Year at ECAL. Ilaria Vinci completed her Fine Arts Master s at ECAL in 2017. Virginia Ariu also completed her Fine Arts Master s at ECAL in 2017. Jacques Duboux holds Bachelor s degrees in Fine Arts and Photography from ECAL, obtained in 2006 and 2007. A current student and graduates of ECAL are also finalists for the 2026 Kiefer Hablitzel│Göhner Art Prize: Iulia Bucuresteanu is currently studying for a Fine Arts Master s at ECAL. Lisa Mazenauer holds a Photography Bachelor s from ECAL (2022). Nina Pacherová completed her Photography Master s at ECAL in 2024. Sara De Brito Faustino holds a Photography Bachelor s from ECAL, obtained in 2023. Aleksandra Nazarova completed her Industrial and Product Design Bachelor s at ECAL in 2023. DATES & OPENING TIMES16–21.06.2026 Opening reception 15.06.2026 Tuesday to Saturday 10am-20pm Sunday 10am-18pm Free entryADDRESSHall 1.1, Messe Basel Messeplatz 10 4005 BaselWEBSITESswissartawards.ch kieferhablitzel.chIMAGE CREDITSSwiss Art Awards Art Direction : Studio Clemens Piontek & Clio Hadjigeorgiou
CRÉATION PHOTOGRAPHIQUE Abracadabra! Starting with projects centered on a common theme, students develop their own in-depth work exploring the concept of “magic” in photography. They create a project that explores the relationship between reality and the imagination, using photography as a tool for revealing, transforming, and interpreting reality.
Applied Photography – 2026 Le temps des Fleurs This course, which is both practical and technical, requires students to develop a true photographer s eye. Its goal is to introduce students to, or help them refine their skills in various photographic genres, such as still life, portraiture, and architecture, as well as documentary and staged photography. These disciplines demand particular attention and great precision in the selection of models, locations, and objects. Mastery of composition, framing, and the management of light, whether natural or artificial, is essential for a successful shot. Throughout the course, students are guided to refine their observational skills and their ability to create images that are both precise and expressive.
Digital Clean Up Week – 2026 From March 16 to 20, ECAL is taking part in Digital Cleanup Week, a worldwide event dedicated to raising awareness and taking action for a more responsible digital world. A week to repair, recycle, clean and think! Throughout the week, discover a communications campaign devised by the Visual Communication department. The posters aim to encourage more sustainable digital practices with tips on: Using generative AI sensibly. Preserving your battery life. Limiting data downloads and storage. These are all practical steps we can take today to help shape a more sustainable digital world.
Screen Design – 2025 Websites developed over the course of a semester based on books chosen by students, which they adapted into web experiences as part of Harry Bloch s Screen Design course, second year of the Bachelor s degree in Visual Communication. Les Solitudes In this experimental website, adapted from Jean Giono s short story “The Man Who Planted Trees” users are invited to superimpose interactive layers, revealing a variety of compositions. By & Alice s Adventures in Wonderland This website places the user in the role of Alice who, as in Lewis Carroll s story, enters Wonderland after following the White Rabbit. The experience unfolds through several interactive scenes inspired by key moments in the book, during which the user can collect pies. After progressing through several scenes, the journey culminates in a trial before the Queen of Hearts, who accuses Alice of stealing the pies, making the user s responses crucial, as the outcome depends on the choices they make. By & Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This website is inspired by the final sequence of Robert Louis Stevenson s novel and focuses on the experience of discovering and reconstructing the mystery. Within this virtual space, the environment can be freely explored in order to observe and interact with various significant objects, as well as collect clues that echo the events and themes of the last chapter. By &
Workshop - Rachel de Joode - 2026 For this workshop, ECAL invited Rachel de Joode, Berlin-based artist whose practice explores the relationship between photography, sculpture, and digital images. During the week, students experimented with transforming photographic images into three-dimensional forms. Starting from simple concepts, they produced or gathered image material intended for printing and treated images as surfaces to cut, fold, layer, and assemble into sculptural objects. Through rapid tests and material experimentation, the workshop encouraged students to move repeatedly between image, surface, object, and documentation. By working with printing, scale, and spatial placement, they explored how photographic images can gain physical presence and occupy space beyond the screen.
Cristallina x ECAL,06–09.03.2026,Matter and Shape, Paris ECAL presents a selection of projects developed in collaboration with Cristallina Design, focusing on a rare material: the only marble quarried in Switzerland. Initiated in 2023, the relationship with Cristallina Design offered students of the Master of Advanced Studies in Design for Luxury and Craftsmanship the opportunity to discover Switzerland s only marble quarry, located at an altitude of over 1,200 metres in the Ticino mountains. This partnership has led to the creation of outdoor accessories and furniture, directly inspired by Swiss traditions and the unique properties of the material, formed millions of years ago from ancient marine corals. Each block, bearing a unique geological memory, gives rise to unique pieces, part of a sustainable vision of luxury where the material becomes memory and design becomes experience.DATES6–9 March 2026WEBSITEmatterandshape.comVENUEJardin des Tuileries 75001 Paris
Swiss Grand Award for Design 2026 for Simone C. Niquille Congratulations to Simone C. Niquille, ECAL resident at La Becque in 2020, for winning the Swiss Design Grand Prize 2026. Congratulations to Simone C. Niquille, ECAL resident at La Becque in 2020, for winning the Swiss Design Grand Prize 2026. The first winner of the prize in the field of "Media & Interaction Design", Simone C. Niquille s transdisciplinary work lies at the intersection of design, research and education. Simone C. Niquille s practice, Technoflesh, investigates the representation of identity and the digitisation of biomass in the networked space of appearance. Through her films, installations and research-based projects, the designer takes a critical look at digital technologies and their cultural impacts. Involved in knowledge transmission, Simone C. Niquille has taught at ECAL in the Master Photography, on the Automated Photography research project, as well as in the Bachelor Media & Interaction Design. @technoflesh @swissdesignawards schweizerkulturpreise.ch