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 Talks by the recipients of the METAA Release Candidate Award, graduates of Media & Interaction Design at ECAL and Media Design at HEAD Theme 2026: Break the loop 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. localhost:2026 highlights artists and designers whose experimental and critical practices break away from conventional cycles to offer an alternative vision of digital technologies. Join the festival and its community of practitioners, educators, and researchers to connect, share, and collectively rethink our relationship with the digital world through these new imaginaries. A special rate is available for ECAL students. Book your spot through the ticketing platform or contact hello@metaa.ch for more information.DATES20.03–22.03.2026ADDRESSESEspace Amaretto, Rue de Genève 97 B, Lausanne Pyxis, Place de la Cathédrale 6, LausanneTALKSaturday March 21, 2026 — 13:30, Espace Amaretto Thomas Gaudin, ECAL alumni Media & Interaction DesignWORKSHOPSSaturday March 21, 2026 9:00-17:00, Pyxis : Elodie Anglade et Kylan Luginbühl, ECAL alumni Media & Interaction Design, "Digital Portraits" 9:00, Pyxis : Vera van de Seyp, ECAL resident at La Becque, "Break the Loop. Focusing on Generative Systems, Experimental Typography, and Custom Creative Tool" Sunday March 22, 2026 10:00, Pyxis : Basil Dénéréaz, ECAL alumni Media & Interaction Design, "Introduction to Modular Synthesis with VCV Rack"
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
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
Type Design BA2 – S1 2025 Second-year students were required to manually develop the lowercase letters of two typefaces.
Visual Identity – BA2 S1 2025 As part of the visual identity course led by Adeline Mollard, students developed a visual identity starting from a randomly selected business card. By appropriating one of its graphic elements and its title, each project offers a unique interpretation. The identity is then expanded across a range of formats, from business cards to F4 posters, including posters, flyers, business cards, and an animated poster.
Editorial Design – BA2 S1 2025 As part of this editorial design course, students developed a research-based project focused on the selection and design of texts around a shared theme. Based on a curated set of sources, each project presents two editions with identical content, produced in both a large and a small format.
Contextual Design – BA2 S1 2025 Genius Loci, or the spirit of the place, refers to the unique identity or essence of a location. In architecture, this principle suggests that the specific characteristics of a place should be reflected and extended in a design. In the case of the second-year graphic design students, they have applied this principle to communication projects focused on promoting or extending the identity of a particular place through design. Their work likely explores how to visually capture and communicate the essence of a space, using graphic design elements that resonate with the architectural features or history of the place. Lè Medz-vin Couâi This graphic project draws on the communal hall of Bussy-sur-Moudon to highlight the role of community spaces in rural areas. Based on its uses, memories, and the photographic and written archives related to the building, it develops graphic systems that propose a reading of the social functioning of Bussy and, more broadly, of rural communities.Often barely visible from an external perspective, these places are nevertheless essential to collective life. They host both ordinary moments and significant events, and contribute to the social cohesion of the territory. Par De la graine à l architecture The cycle of wood through the history of the Gässli House This edition narrates the cycle of wood in three phases. Wurzeln Schlagen (taking root) evokes the seed and the slow growth of the tree. Verwandlung (metamorphosis) marks human intervention and the construction of the first house in 1666, when wood becomes a structural element while still carrying the memory of its origin. Gässlihuß (Maison Gässli) traces its deconstruction and reconstruction from 2019 to the present, highlighting the movement of the place and the circulation of memory.Positioned between an edition and a series of posters, the object is based on a graphic system inspired by tree rings. A grid proportional to a timeline from 1500 to tomorrow structures the whole, with texts radiating from the center in a gradual movement of zooming in and out through the different phases. The images translate the state of the material: 165 outlined circles represent growth; a transition to gradients and then to solid circles marks the phase of metamorphosis; and archival images, screened into circular patterns, evoke movement and memory. Time thus becomes a tangible material, visually expressing the continuity of a cycle in which matter circulates and reinscribes itself over time. Par Le Pavillion de musique Sihlhölzli This sequence proposes to read the Sihlhölzli pavilion not as a fixed architectural object, but as a sensitive structure, through the metaphor "Muschel ist Muskel" (the shell as muscle).The building has undergone several states of use and atmosphere, which the video approaches as a cycle composed of four phases: music, sonic saturation, abandonment, and reactivation through the body.The choice of a looped format refers to breathing, to music, and to a non-linear sense of time, where past uses continue to influence the perception of the place. In this video, architecture is therefore understood as a body that reacts to the flows surrounding it, proposing a sensitive reading of space. By Eve GremaudHOUSE WITH A TREE This edition graphically translates the principle of renovation through layering: the existing structure is never erased, but becomes the foundation for transformations. It takes the form of a serialized journal composed of four folded sheets, creating a 16-page journal or, when unfolded, four posters. The project relies on three layers of printing. The base layer is a Swiss architecture journal from 1930, contemporary with the construction of the house, whose original layout is preserved to anchor the past. A transparent gold screen print is then superimposed without covering the underlying layer, evoking a gentle renovation. Finally, an inkjet print presents the house today and the interventions carried out. Each half-page addresses a specific modification (roof, water, windows, etc.). For each theme, the 1930 journal is recomposed from period images and advertisements, creating a dialogue between past and present. A second navigation layer, dated 2013, materializes the overlap of temporalities. On the verso, a minimalist drawing represents each intervention. The screen print produces a subtle embossing, introducing a tactile dimension perceptible while reading. The accumulation of these prints on a single sheet thus becomes the heart of the project, directly echoing the architectural approach: building with what exists rather than replacing it. Par Jazz Campus de Bâle After analyzing and visiting the building, I chose to develop an animation based on a central idea: in this place, architecture and jazz are inseparable. The project is intended for students, teachers, and enthusiasts of architecture and music, and aims both to inform and to spark curiosity by inviting viewers to discover the building through sound as much as through image.The tone, both informative and poetic, makes the space resonate like a living narrative. The animation draws on the acoustic modules, architectural forms, vaults, the diversity of rooms, and the inner courtyard, which are animated like a dance in response to the music.Structured in four stages, situation, learning, cooperation, and diffusion, it reveals a campus that lives, learns, and creates through jazz. Designed for learning and experimentation, this architecture forms an intimate universe nourished by music and opened to the city through the jazz club. Par Sette Interventi a Monte Like the architectural office, I wanted to carry out an intervention in the village and contribute to its revitalization. Before my visit, I therefore developed a marble game inspired by a local story that children used to play marbles on the village square, using four holes in the ground. I spent one day in Monte, during which I had seven encounters with people who agreed to play the game. From these interactions, ink traces made by the marbles emerged, capturing the movements and exchanges between the players. At the same time, I collected archival materials, which I curated and selected in response to the conversations I had with the inhabitants. The project thus takes the form of an associative ping-pong between myself and the people I met. On the one hand, my aim was to animate and enliven both the people and the village through my own graphic intervention. On the other hand, because the people and our conversations guided my subsequent selection of content, I allowed myself to be led by this direct contact in the construction of the book. In the same way, the architectural interventions also emerged from the conversations and encounters with the inhabitants. Par A House with a tree This editorial project graphically translates the architectural approach developed by Sauter von Moos in A House with a Tree (Basel, 2013). Based on the notions of module, fragmentation, and the reciprocal activation between the existing structure and the extension, it takes the form of a journal composed of abstract typographic structures derived from the words HOUSE and TREE, transformed into modular architectural forms. Folded and placed in relation to one another, these compositions generate dynamic sequences in which each spread activates the next, echoing the dialogue between past and present established by the architects. A mini-edition inserted within the journal gathers fragments of the original text, reorganized into a narrative core. Acting as a key to reading the project, it provides access to the gestures, intentions, and ethics behind it, while connecting the abstract graphic compositions to their architectural origin. Together, the project forms an editorial device in which text and image, autonomy and interdependence, respond to and activate one another. Par
GEOFF HAN – WORK AND TURN In November 2025, 27 ECAL students took part in Work and Turn, a workshop led by Geoff Han exploring the theme of labor and the often overlooked work that sustains the school. Located in a former IRIL knitwear factory in the industrial area of Renens, ECAL occupies a vast building whose daily functioning depends on many visible and invisible forms of labor. Over five days, students worked in small teams to produce a collective 96-page pocket-sized publication. Each pair created an 8-page photographic visual essay focusing on a specific aspect of labor at ECAL. Rather than relying on traditional portraits, the projects explored more poetic and indirect ways of documenting traces of work through spaces, gestures, materials, and infrastructures. The entire publication was manually printed on an offset press by the students themselves, in either black or red and black. The printing process was a central part of the workshop: participants prepared the plates, set up the press, and ran the prints. This hands-on production process echoed the theme of labor explored throughout the publication.
Betaverse – 2026 This project brings together a series of experiments created by students exploring the intersection between physical reality and immaterial imaginary worlds. Using a mixed reality headset, they transform their environment into experimental spaces where real elements become supports for digital creations. Peaceful Fishing Peaceful Fishing is a meditation and relaxation experience that immerses us in the role of a fisherman in the middle of the ocean, within a calm and soothing atmosphere. By & MID BUILDING Mid Building is a collaborative project bringing together our classmates, with the goal of reconstructing bodies fragmented into multiple pieces. The experience also includes a playful dimension, allowing participants to freely assemble different body parts to create varied forms and explore creativity. By & Existential Crisis Existential Crisis is a narrative and interactive VR project in which the player takes on the role of a pressured artist tasked with creating a sculpture after receiving a mysterious email. As they assemble the elements of the piece, a system error suddenly erases their progress and pop-ups flood the screen. Overwhelmed by frustration, the player destroys the error windows with a virtual keyboard, blurring the line between artistic creation and digital rebellion. By & #NewME #NEWME is an augmented reality experience that invites the user to complete a workout session made up of different exercises. The higher the intensity of the effort, the more “followers” they gain. By , & Marbl In Marbl, you create a life-sized marble run and progress from level to level by using the volumes around you. By &
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 – Sold out 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
ECAL A Typographic Atlas in Turin,12.02–14.03.2026,Circolo del Design 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. Conceived as a travelling exhibition, ECAL A Typographic Atlas reflects ECAL s long-standing commitment to contemporary graphic and type design. 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. 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 Opening 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, CONFERENCE AND ROUNDTABLEThursday, March 12, 2026, from 6.30pm Talk with Davide Tomatis, Teacher, graphic and type designer Gabriele Fumero, Teacher, graphic and type designer Giulia Zanzarella, Graphic and type designer Rocco Barbaro, Sign painter and type designer at Il Letterista Joe Miceli, Sign painter and type designer at Il Letterista Catherine Santullo, Type designer and writer