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 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
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.
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
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.
In Loving Memory of Milo Keller (1979–2025) Milo Keller, photographer, teacher and researcher, a leading figure in contemporary photography in Switzerland and a recognised player on the international art scene, has passed away. His death deeply affects ECAL, where he played an essential role for nearly two decades, as well as all those with whom he shared his vision, his thoughts and his commitment. Born in 1979 in Lugano, Milo Keller obtained his Bachelor s degree in Photography at ECAL in 2005, which he complemented with a Postgraduate Diploma in Photography in 2007. An internationally renowned artist, he has had a rich and demanding career, marked by numerous publications and collaborations in the fields of architecture, design and fashion, notably for Wallpaper, Numéro, Vogue and L Officiel, as well as with fashion houses such as Balenciaga, Vitra and Moncler. His rigorous and open artistic practice has always been nourished by a constant dialogue with the transformations of the photographic medium. Alongside his work as an artist, Milo Keller has been committed with great vigour and remarkable generosity to teaching at ECAL since 2007. He has headed the Photography Department since 2012 and in 2016 founded the Master s programme in Photography, which he has developed as an international space for critical reflection, research and visual experimentation. Through research projects such as Automated Photography, Augmented Photography and, more recently, Soft Photography – a project scheduled for development in 2026 – he has thoroughly examined the changes in contemporary photography, exploring the relationships between technologies, uses, materialities and sensibilities in the production and circulation of images. Milo Keller conceived of this research as a genuine educational space, inviting students to become critical actors in contemporary imagery. Deeply committed to transmission, he saw pedagogy as a field of dialogue and mutual learning. Convinced that teaching is a living process, he often reminded us that ‘we always learn a great deal from our students. His approach, both demanding and benevolent, left a lasting impression and helped to shape a community based on exchange, curiosity and openness. Until his final days, Milo Keller remained attentive to the life of the school and the projects of its students, demonstrating his unwavering commitment and passion for photography and its challenges. ECAL extends its deepest condolences to his family, friends, colleagues and students. We express our profound gratitude to Milo for his unwavering commitment, his pedagogical acumen, and his invaluable contribution to the school. His artistic, intellectual, and human legacy will continue to inspire future generations. Thank you, Milo.
Workshop with Benoît Dervaux Second-year Bachelor s students attended a workshop with Belgian cinematographer Benoît Dervaux, known for his work on the Dardenne brothers films. He was responsible for the cinematography on the Swiss films Laissez-moi by Maxime Rappaz (2023) and À bras-le-corps by Marie-Elsa Sgualdo (2025). "When Rachel Noël asked me to come to ECAL to give a workshop on image centred on light, I thought about it for a while and then immediately thought of this quote that I really like and that has stayed with me for a long time, by Serge Daney: In artistic terms, an absolutely intuitive, almost animalistic understanding of what can be done is much more important than knowing what one wants to do. Throughout my career, I have often observed how light in cinema remains a mystery that is difficult to unravel for many people, including numerous professionals in the sector, producers, directors, etc. However, for the director of photography, who is responsible for the image of a film, light, however fantastical and artistic it may be, inevitably requires at some point to be forged from tangible and material elements. Starting from the axiom that a film shot must above all be structured and constructed according to the camera position, during this workshop we observed the interplay of light and shadow. Through a series of simple, practical exercises, I attempted to introduce the students to cinema lighting so that it would no longer be an abstract concept for them. By giving them these few keys, I hope that they will now be able to observe photography in a more analytical way and gain a deeper understanding of films." Benoit Dervaux
Welcome 2026! Artist Louisa Gagliardi presents the 2025 greetings for ECAL with Aphrodisiacs (for 2026), a work that blends digital imagery and tactile materials. Louisa Gagliardi lives and works in Zurich. A graduate of ECAL, she creates paintings from digital images printed on PVC, a material whose gloss evokes the light of a screen. On these surfaces, she applies gels, varnishes, glitter, or latex, giving her works an iridescent depth and an almost virtual presence. Between illusion and materiality, her compositions reinvent social scenes marked by ambiguity and strangeness, revealing the tension between reality and artifice characteristic of our connected era. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries from Seoul to New York and across Europe. Her pieces are included in prestigious international collections, including the Banque Pictet Collection and MAMCO in Geneva, FRAC Normandie, Fondazione Sandra e Giancarlo Bonollo in Thiene, Kistefos Museum in Norway, and TANK in Shanghai. @louisagagliardi louisagagliardi.com
ECAL XMAS MARKET 2025,17.12.2025,ECAL, Renens The ECAL XMas Market is back to light up your festive season, Wednesday 17 December from 6pm to 9pm at ECAL. The ECAL Xmas Market is back! Join us on Wednesday, 17 December, from 6pm to 9pm at ECAL for an evening of design and festive cheer. It s the perfect opportunity to support ECAL talent and find original gifts with a unique touch. You ll discover work from our students and graduates including posters, jewelry, editions, objects, photographs, silkscreens, calendars, confectionery, clothing and accessories. A panoply of unique pieces to offer or to treat yourself to! This year also features a special pop-up presentation of HOMEWORKS, a limited collection designed by students from the Bachelor of Industrial Design in collaboration with the Swiss brand Micasa. Sixteen designers have developed smart, minimalist and characterful pieces for contemporary living from which a selection will be available on site. Extend the fun by booking your place now at our Christmas dinner table to share a fondue in a festive and musical atmosphere.DATES & SCHEDULE17.12.2025 6-9pmVENUEECAL Avenue du Temple 5 1020 RenensXMAS TABLEFondue registration form CHF 22.-/per person
100 BESTE PLAKATE 24,17.12.2025–15.01.2026,Gallery l elac, ECAL From December 17, 2025, to January 15, 2026, come and see the 100 most beautiful posters of 2024 from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland at ECAL. This exhibition, organized by 100 Beste Plakate, showcases the award-winning designs from the 2024 competition. Opening, Wednesday December 17 at 6 pm. VENUEGallery l elac ECAL/Ecole cantonale d art de Lausanne Avenue du Temple 5 1020 RenensDATE & SCHEDULESDecember 17 – January 15, 2026 Monday – Friday, 8am – 5pm Free entryOPENINGWednesday, December 17, 2025, 6pmWEBSITE100-beste-plakate.deThe 100 Best Posters Germany Austria Switzerland competition is held annually and serves to document and disseminate exemplary achievements in poster design from the three participating countries. Through its yearbook and a series of exhibitions, it provides a curated overview of current design practices and visual communication trends. Now in its 23nd international iteration, the competition has established itself as a significant reference point within contemporary poster design. Every year, numerous graphic designers, students at art academies and universities, as well as agencies, studios, and printing companies participate in the competition. In the current edition, 711 entrants submitted a total of 1,498 works – including 1,103 individual posters and 395 series containing 1,406 posters – resulting in an overall total of 2,509 posters. Jury Adeline Mollard, CH–Zurich Anouk Rehorek, AUT–Wien Prof. Hans Günter Schmitz, D–Wuppertal Prof. Stephanie Specht, BE–Antwerp Jonas Wandeler, CH–Zurich Winning ECAL Alumni Federico Barbon chez Federico Barbon Studio Nicolas Bernklau Alix Debraine & Martial Grin Aude Gunzinger Raphaela Häfliger Robert Huber Aurore Huberty chez Shelf & File Guy Meldem, Julien Tavelli, Daniel Haettenschwiller & David Keshavjee chez Maximage Chi-Binh Trieu & Chi-Long Trieu chez Office for Typography Jonas Zesiger David Zwicker
MASTERCLASS THIERRY DE PERETTI Meeting with Thierry de Peretti, French actor, director and stage director Born in Ajaccio in 1970, Thierry de Peretti trained at the Cours Florent drama school. He began his career in theatre, directing plays by authors such as Koltès and Fassbinder. He received the Prix Révélation from the Syndicat National de la Critique in 2001. After several notable roles in cinema (Ceux qui m aiment prendront le train by P. Chéreau, Yves Saint Laurent by B. Bonello), he moved into directing with Les Apaches (Directors Fortnight 2013), followed by Une Vie violente (Critics Week 2017), Enquête sur un scandale d État (San Sebastian Film Festival 2021) and À son image (Directors Fortnight 2024). His work, often set in Corsica, explores the social, political and intimate tensions of the island through a realistic and poetic lens, confirming his status as a committed filmmaker. His approach to casting, distribution and acting is immersive and collective. The filmmaker combines professionals and non-professionals to create a group dynamic capable of carrying the narrative. In search of authenticity, the performers draw on their personal connection to the story and the filmed location. Discussion moderated by Paolo Moretti, Head of the Cinema Department