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
Prix Dior 2025 The Art of Color,26.02–27.03.2026,Gallery l elac, ECAL ECAL welcomes the 8th edition of the Dior Photography and Visual Arts Award for Young Talents exhibition. Created in 2018 in partnership with LUMA Arles and ENSP Arles, the Dior Photography and Visual Arts Award for Young Talents aims to reveal young photographers and/or videographers while fostering an essential dialogue with leading international photography and art schools. This exhibition presents the works of emerging international artists, brought together around the theme “Face-to-face”, exploring the relationships between form, color, and identity through photography and video. Following its presentation in Arles, this 8th edition highlights a new generation of talented creators, whose works demonstrate remarkable artistic mastery, combining formal freedom with creative maturity. Among the laureates, two ECAL graduates from the Bachelor Photography stand out for their deeply personal and imaginative universes. In A Home With No Roof, explores her past and the intimate space of her childhood through miniature models of her home, confronting memories and traumas with a creative distance that allows objects, bodies, and space to engage in dialogue. Each image becomes a hybrid staging, between refuge and threat, enabling a silent confrontation with personal history and a path toward self-reconciliation. For her part, presents Alien Love Call, a series of six images inspired by 1950s cinema, 1970s design, and science fiction. Her retro-futuristic narrative depicts a love story between two extraterrestrials, blending nostalgia for an idealized future with a fantastical universe. The images, shot in medium-format film, create a visual refuge where romance and imagination flourish within a setting that is at once familiar and unreal.DATES AND SCHEDULES27.02-27.03.2026 Wednesday to Friday, 1pm - 5pm Free entryVENUEGalerie l elac ECAL / Ecole cantonale d art de Lausanne Av. du Temple 5, 1020 RenensOPENING & TALKThursday, February 26th 6pm Talk, IKEA auditorium Julien Frydmann, Founder OFFSCREEN Festival Nathalie Herschdorfer, Director Photo Elysée Vassilis Oikonomopoulos, Artistic Director, LUMA Arles Joel Quayson, Winner Prix Dior 2025 Aline Savioz, ECAL Bachelor Photography Student 7pm Opening, Galerie l elacARTISTSQianyi Bao, Sara De Brito Faustino, Momo Nakaqawa, Wenlong Qi, Joel Quayson, Raine Roberts, Aline Savioz, Eliot Stein, Chia Yun Wu, Danilo Zocatelli Cesco
ECAL Cinema Masterclasses,25.02–21.04.2026 Public meetings with Wes Anderson & Richard Ayoade, Joe Dante, Verena Paravel, Kelly Reichardt, Marie-Elsa Sgualdo and Fabrice Aragno. ECAL Cinema Department welcomes several leading figures from the international film industry, in collaboration with Rencontres du 7e Art Lausanne, Cinemathèque Suisse and Visions du Réel. Verena Paravel Filmmaker and visual anthropologist, and collaborator at the Sensory Ethnography Lab (Harvard), Verena Paravel develops an immersive cinema at the intersection of documentary and experimentation. Her films (Leviathan, Caniba, De Humani Corporis Fabrica) have been showcased at major international festivals. February 25, 2026 – 4pm ECAL, IKEA Auditorium Free admission Marie-Elsa Sgualdo Swiss director and screenwriter, revealed at Locarno and Cannes, Marie-Elsa Sgualdo will present her career path, from her short films to her first feature À bras-le-corps (Venice 2025), nominated seven times for the 2026 Swiss Film Awards. March 3, 2026 – 3pm ECAL, Nussbaumer Auditorium Free admission Wes Anderson & Richard Ayoade Wes Anderson, a leading figure of contemporary cinema (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Asteroid City), will be in conversation with actor and screenwriter Richard Ayoade. An exceptional event, followed by a screening of The Phoenician Scheme. March 10, 2026 – 8pm Capitole, Cinémathèque suisse, Lausanne En collaboration avec les Rencontres du 7e Art Lausanne Joe Dante Cult director of Gremlins, Joe Dante shaped 1980s fantasy cinema with a style blending satire, humor, and cinephile spirit. An exceptional conversation presented as part of the retrospective dedicated to him by the Cinémathèque suisse. April 14, 2026 – 6pm ECAL, IKEA Auditorium Free admission Kelly Reichardt A major figure in American independent cinema, Kelly Reichardt creates subtle and politically resonant works (Wendy and Lucy, First Cow, Showing Up). She is the guest of honor at Visions du Réel 2026. Also to discover at Visions du Réel: Prochain arrêt: Fontenay Film de Chadyne Genoud, ECAL Bachelor Cinéma April 21, 2026 – 2pm Visions du Réel, Nyon En collaboration avec Visions du Réel, Nyon Fabrice Aragno Swiss filmmaker and visual artist, and a key collaborator of Jean-Luc Godard (Film Socialisme, Goodbye to Language, The Image Book), Fabrice Aragno explores the plastic possibilities of the image through experimentation and technological innovation. March 23, 2026 – 3pm ECAL, Nussbaumer Auditorium
ECAL MASTERS PORTFOLIO REVIEWS,19–27.02.2026,Online Event on registration intended for prospective Master s candidates who wish to receive feedback on their portfolio by a faculty member or an assistant from their chosen program. Future Master s candidates have the opportunity to present their portfolio during individual online appointments from February 17 to 29, 2026. PROCEDURE Each individual session takes place online via Zoom, in English or French. It lasts a maximum of 20 minutes. Prepare yourself accordingly with a short PDF presenting your portfolio. For each Master, 15-19 slots are available, between 8.35am and 5.10pm, on a first come, first served basis. You are authorised to register for ONLY ONE TIME SLOT. If the slot is not clickable, it means that it has already been booked. REGISTRATIONS (Doodle forms), Registration deadline : Monday 9 February Thursday 19 + Friday 20 February 2026 – FULL > Master Type Design Monday 23 February 2026 > Master Fine Arts Tuesday 24 February 2026 > MAS in Design for Luxury & Craftsmanship Wednesday 25 + Thursday 26 February 2026 – FULL > Master Product Design Wednesday 25 + Friday 27 February 2026 > Master Digital Experience Design Thursday 26 + Friday 27 February 2026 > Master Photography You will receive a confirmation email a few days before the event with more information and the Zoom linkDATES AND SCHEDULES19–27.02.2026 9.00am-4.15pm (Swiss Time) On registrationVENUEOnline, ZoomINFORMATIONFor specific questions, please contact rsvp@ecal.ch
Arboricrop — Next generation agriculture using real-time information from tree crops Arboricrop is a research project conducted by a multidisciplinary consortium bringing together Vivent Biosignals, Changins – University of Viticulture and Oenology, and ECAL/Ecole cantonale d art de Lausanne (HES-SO), with the support of Innosuisse. Its objective is to develop a miniaturized plant electrophysiology sensor designed for use in real agricultural conditions: the VITA Mini Sensor. VITA measures plant physiological signals and identifies stress situations before visible symptoms appear. The aim of the project is to provide farmers with early, plant-specific information (water, nutritional, biotic, or abiotic stress) in order to support decision-making and limit systematic or preventive interventions based on general assumptions. The system is part of an approach that seeks more targeted use of agricultural resources, in a context of increasing climate variability. Design was integrated from the earliest phases of the project, in direct connection with the scientific, agronomic, and technical developments. This early integration made it possible to align technical choices (electronic architecture, antenna, power supply, cabling) with real-world field-use constraints, as well as maintenance and durability requirements. The sensor is built around a transparent polycarbonate housing, allowing direct visibility of its internal components. This approach aims to facilitate inspection, understanding of operation, and maintenance. The enclosure is waterproof while remaining fully disassemblable. The product architecture is based on complete modularity: the electronic board (PCB), battery, cables, and sensors are all separable and replaceable. The object s design takes into account real conditions of use (handling with gloves, quick installation, exposure to weather). The design work also addresses information structuring: electrophysiological signals are translated, via Vivent s algorithms, into synthetic, actionable indicators, with progressive access to more detailed data when needed. VITA is now produced in series and deployed in a range of agricultural contexts, including open-field crops, arboriculture, viticulture, and controlled-environment growing systems, across Europe, North America, and South America.Principal investigatorStéphane Halmaï-VoisardResearch teamPietro Alberti Maxwell Ashford Alain Bellet Stéphane Halmaï-Voisard Laurent SoldiniPeriod01.11.2023–30.04.2026Funded byInnosuisse – Agence suisse pour l encouragement de l innovation, Confédération suissePartnersChangins – Haute école de viticulture et œnologie Vivent BiosignalsLecturers and researchersVivent Biosignals: Dr Nigel Wallbridge – Founder, Executive Chairman Carrol Plummer – Founder, CEO Dr Andrzej Kurenda – Chief Scientific Officer Dr Andreas Kolbeck – Plant Scientist Laura Baude – Plant Scientist Nick Barker – CTO Changins: Prof Markus Rienth – Professor of Viticulture Dr Amanda Malvessi Cattani – Research AssociateContributorsYounès Klouche Frederik Mahler-Andersen
A Typographic Atlas,12.02–14.03.2026,Circolo del Design, Turin 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 . 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. Conceived as a travelling exhibition, ECAL A Typographic Atlas reflects ECAL s long-standing commitment to contemporary graphic and type design. First stop Turin – Circolo del Design Next stops Leipzig – Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst 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...DATES AND SCHEDULES13.02–14.03.2026 Monday-Saturday, 2-7pm Free admissionVENUECircolo del Design Via S. Francesco da Paola 17, 10123 Turin, ItalyOPENING & TALKThursday, February 12, 2026, from 6.30pm Talk with , Printer & type designer, Archivio Tipografico , Type & graphic designer Saliù Baldé, Claudio Bolzonello, Orlando Brunner, Elena Calò, ECAL Master Type students Moderation by Matthieu Cortat Roller, Head of ECAL Master Type DesignHEAD OF PROGRAMMES,
Symposim – The New Typography,12–14.02.2026,Cité internationale des Arts A three-day symposium to examine the repercussions and resistance to New Typography in the French-speaking world.
Création d image - Double Reading - BA1 2025-2026 First-year students were invited to design a 16-page publication. By experimenting with duotone through various printing techniques, they structured a dual reading experience dependent on the printed colors.
Pixel Perfect – 2025 Pixel Perfect is the semester project of the Interface Design orientation module, semester I. It invites students to put into practice the methods and principles introduced in the Macro UI and Screen Grammar courses, exploring how graphic systems structure the digital user experience. Based on the analysis of an existing website, the project encourages a critical and creative reinterpretation of its visual identity and hierarchy. The challenge is to design a contemporary, coherent and expressive interface capable of renewing the original design system while respecting its uses, content and functional constraints, as well as its key principles: consistency, modularity, and the scalability of graphic and interactive components. Bündner KunstMuseum The project presents a website for an art museum located in Chur, in the canton of Grisons. The platform showcases both the permanent and temporary collections, as well as the museum s book catalogue. It also includes information about events and practical details for planning a visit. The visual concept is directly inspired by the museum s architecture: a cube. I developed a minimalist, typography-driven design language based on geometric axes, reflecting the architecture of the building. By Emilie MüllerFondation Pierre Gianadda This website focuses on the navigation experience. Elements of the fondation s building are used throughout for this matter, with the main entrances symbolising the different parts of the website. Thematic colours are used to help keep track of where one is in the website, and are used as highlights for the interactive elements. Overall, the redesign aims to offer a simple experience, so that visitors can focus on the exceptional content of the fondation s diverse proposals. By Thomas NeyroudBallenBERG Ballenberg s website aims to help visitors explore the museum s offerings and structure their visit. However, the museum being large with various exhibits and events, the website became extremely complex. With the re-design, north star for was to craft the experience to facilitate visitors to easily plan their visit to then intuitively move into the purchase phase. Structurally, the re-design has two ways of representing content. A map view and another that aligns with a traditional website. Content on the map is categorised by clubbing multiple attractions into the themes of Ballenberg. Both sections are connected so that visitors can delve into the experiences section at any moment if required. Importantly, the website allows visitors to create a personalized plan of their visit to the open air museum. This helps them easy visualize their visit and systematically plan it as to liking. By Rishab SachidanandLa Muette This project presents a redesign of La Muette, the website of the museum dedicated to the Swiss writer C. F. Ramuz. The objective was to establish a more coherent balance between the two main sections of the platform, namely the museum space and the archival resources. The redesign aims to improve overall navigation fluidity and to rethink how users explore the archives. By Cindy MurierFIFA MUSEUM This project presents a redesigned concept for the FIFA Museum website. The original website offers a wide range of programs, events, and online content, but lacks a distinct football character, presents visit-related information in a fragmented way, and makes valuable digital content difficult to discover. The key visual is inspired by scanimation, expressing the museum s vision of “United by the Movement,” while the grid system is inspired by pitch lines. A more visible navigation structure aims to improve discoverability, and adaptive visuals with contextual annotations help surface programs and stories more personally. This makes the museum s heritage engaging and accessible for both visit planning and online exploration. By Shinyoung ParkVitromuseum The museum focuses on stained glass and glass art, I wanted the interface to reflect that theme in a simple way. I brought this idea into the website through geometric shapes inspired by stained-glass panels, vivid section colours based on real glass pigments, and subtle glass-like textures used in hover states. Each colour represents a different part of the website, helping users understand where they are, just like individual pieces of stained glass form one unified artwork. I also applied consistent angles and corner radius to keep the shapes cohesive and used tighter margins so the pieces feel connected, echoing how stained-glass elements sit closely together. These decisions make the visual identity stronger while still keeping the navigation clear and easy to use. By Seoyun ChoiVallon MUSEUM Inspired by the museum s L-shape and the idea of archaeological excavation, the design of this website invites users to explore by revealing and hiding layers of content. The L becomes a tool for navigation and a frame that guides the eye and uncovers hidden fragments step by step and shows hoe museum s identity is rooted in its form and historical foundation. Like digging through history, the experience is built on curiosity and gradual discovery, turning the website into a place where what s buried slowly comes to light. This project is a metaphor for digital excavation ad invites users to uncover hidden stories layer by layer. By Delphine Brantschen
ECAL at Art Genève,29.01–01.02.2026,Palexpo, Geneva On the occasion of Art Genève s 2026 edition, 2016 takes the form of an installation conceived by students of the ECAL Master in Visual Arts during a workshop led by artist Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster. Created during a workshop led by artist Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, the 2016 installation unfolds like a mirrored space, both retrospective and projective, developed from traces and narratives from the ECAL Master Fine Arts. Conceived as the horizontal plane of a liberated time – an ellipse, a documentary fiction, a collective landscape – 2016 questions the relationships between time, images and things, leaving everyone free to define what belongs to an era. Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster lives and works in Paris. A figure on the international art scene, she has participated in the Venice Biennale, dOCUMENTA, and created TH.2058 at Tate Modern. Her work, often experimental, explores the sensitive relationships between bodies and real or fictional spaces.DATES AND SCHEDULES29.01–01.02.2026VENUEPalexpo, GenèveWEBSITEartgenève.chOPENINGWednesday, January 28, 2026, 2–9 pm by invitationSTUDENTSRoberta Argenta, Hugo Baud, Mykola Churmantaiev, Oana Cuozzo, Paul de Grossouvre, Zora Decherf, Axel Gradito, Martin Herengt, Asia Lapai, Charly Mirambeau, Jana Mosconi, Ogulniyaz Muhammetgulyyeva, Matteo Pizzolante, Matthias Reclus, Fotima SharipovaINVITED ARTISTDominique Gonzalez-FoersterHEAD OF PROGRAMME
The Modular Mindset From connected watches to large-scale billboards, digital interfaces now operate across all scales. Designing a visual identity in this context requires thinking in terms of systems that can adapt to multiple formats, uses, and rhythms. This workshop explores the creation of modular, animated identities for a fictional music label, drawing on motion design and procedural logic. Using Cavalry, students develop dynamic visual systems that transform according to precise rules, while maintaining graphic coherence and a strong relationship to the sound universe. Many thanks to Cavalry for sponsoring this workshop.
ECAL A Typographic Atlas Curated by ECAL, this project brings together over 300 typefaces created by ECAL students from around the world, developed within the Master Type Design and Bachelor Graphic Design programmes. Presented as a typographic atlas, the exhibition is structured around a single indexing approach. This system is translated into a modular display designed by . 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. ECAL A Typographic Atlas also comes in the form of a 536-page book published by Empire Books and designed by and Eurostandard. Conceived as a travelling exhibition, ECAL A Typographic Atlas reflects ECAL s long-standing commitment to contemporary graphic and type design. First stop Turin – Circolo del Design Next stops Leipzig – Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst New York – The Cooper Union Montreal – UQAM Paris – Program/me Lausanne – ECAL Tokyo – SKWAT Kameari Art Centre and more to come...Événements liés
ECAL at Solothurn Film Festival 2026,21–28.01.2026,Solothurn From January 23 to 25, four Bachelor Media & Interaction Design diploma projects will be featured in the immersive section of the 2026 Solothurn Film Festival. The 61st Solothurn Film Festival showcases four interactive projects from the Bachelor Media & Interaction Design, challenging how we perceive stories, space, and our digital lives. In UnBubble, lets a robot explore a user s Instagram activity, questioning how our digital traces construct a fragmented image of ourselves — one that is then used to guide our choices, desires, and attention. s Vulcan takes visitors into volcanic landscapes, contrasting the close-up work of a volcanologist with the fascination of the immensity of natural forces. ESC, by , explores the tension between control and constraint in virtual worlds, while What Lies Behind, by , shifts perspectives in VR to navigate between the immense and the minuscule. The festival also screens Always Wanted To Be God, Never Wanted to Do Good by Photography Bachelor alumni and Noa Epars, winners of the Award for Best Swiss Film 2025, presented by SUISSIMAGE and SSA (Société Suisse des Auteurs).VENUESolothurn, SwitzerlandDATESFrom 23 to 25 January, 2026HEAD OF PROGRAMMEWEBSITEsolothurnerfilmtage.chÉTUDIANT·E·S · · ·
Beyond The Screen – 2025 Beyond the screen - is a series of interactive machines developed by students in their first year of Bachelor Media & Interaction Design. These systems are inspired by the relationship between instructions and execution within a computer system. These machines create text through a modular typographic system.
Workshop Shitty Rigs Workshop led by Michael William Farino, Jonathan Ricardo Argudo and Herbert Mayer and given to students in the Bachelor s degree programmes in Cinema and Industrial Design. Improvising. Adapting. Overcoming. For a week, students were introduced to alternative methods for creating shots and special effects during filming. Members of the New York collective Shitty Rigs shared their tips for creating the most original and daring sequences with limited resources. The art of resourcefulness in all situations.