Symposium – Don t Die Now! : Cinema & artificial intelligences,05–06.05.2026,IKEA Auditorium, ECAL This two-day symposium is part of a research project by the Cinema Department at ECAL focusing on the impact of artificial intelligence on cinema. Artificial intelligence technologies are now playing an increasingly prominent role in discourse, as well as in creation practices, production and distribution of works, and in film education. This symposium therefore aims to shed light on the potential and challenges of these tools in order to understand how to use them — or decide not to — in full awareness, and to explore critical perspectives or possible alternative models. Discussions will also address the ethical and environmental issues raised by their development. This inaugural meeting will bring together film professionals and researchers to collectively reflect on the transformations brought about by these new tools. Directors, producers, screenwriters, historians and philosophers will share their experiences of how AI — whether analytical or generative — is transforming and sometimes disrupting the film production chain, and how they are adapting to it. These two days of presentations and discussions were conceived as the starting point for a research project led by the Cinema Department at ECAL. Three practical trials will follow from autumn 2026 onwards, with the aim of drawing lessons and making recommendations regarding the use of these tools. The trials and their results will be presented at a second symposium in spring 2027. Lecturers Roberto Beragnoli, Director, Florence Edouard Boccon Gibod, Producer at The Media Company, Paris Gilles Gaillard, Director of Photography and former director of MIKROS. Partner at the NIN9E Studio investment fund, Paris Andrea Gatopoulos, Director, Rome Philippe Lasry, Screenwriter and Head of the Screenwriting Department at FEMIS, Paris Alice Leroy, Film historian and critic at Cahiers du Cinéma, Paris André Ourednik, Researcher and science fiction author, Lausanne Further lecturers will be announced shortly.FULL PROGRAMTo comeBOOKINGTo comeDATES05–06.05.2026VENUEAuditoire IKEA, ECAL Avenue du Temple 5 1020 RenensHEAD OF RESEARCH PROJECTBenoît Rossel
ECAL X GOOGLE – A Message From Tomorrow,21–25.04.2026,Spazio Orso 16, Milan As part of the Milan Design Week 2026, ECAL and Google present the exhibition A Message From Tomorrow, featuring the projects of Master Product Design students. The Industrial Design team at Google (Google ID) initiated a collaboration with ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne to develop a concept for a mobile-focused product inspired by a daily ritual. ECAL s Master Product Design students were invited to envision innovative hardware engaging with contemporary habits. Through compelling storytelling, these conceptual projects consider the human dimension of mobile technology: how it shapes everyday gestures and how our relationships with devices might evolve in the future. This collaboration reflects ECAL s forward-looking approach to design, combining experimentation, critical thinking, and a strong receptivity to emerging technologies.
Vico Magistretti and Japan,16.04.2026–25.02.2027,Fondazione studio museo Vico Magistretti, Milano ECAL Bachelor Industrial Design students present miniature versions of furniture pieces designed by Vico Magistretti in the exhibition Vico Magistretti and Japan in Milan. The Vico Magistretti Foundation presents Vico Magistretti and Japan, an exhibition exploring the affinities, conceptual correspondences and formal references between Japanese aesthetics and the work of the Milanese architect and designer Vico Magistretti (1920–2006). On display are archival materials (drawings, photographs, objects, videos), the miniature versions of the designer s furniture produced by ECAL s Bachelor Industrial Design students, and the illustrations of Magistretti s Japanese architectures by Dogma.DATES16.04.2026–25.02.2027 Opening reception Wednesday 15.04.2026, 6pm–9pmADDRESSFondazione studio museo Vico Magistretti Via Vincenzo Bellini 1 Milano, ItalyGRAPHIC DESIGN CREDITSOmnigroupEXHIBITION CURATORDavide FornariOPENING TIMESTuesday: 10am–6pm Thursday: 2pm–8pm Last Saturday of the month: 11am–3pm During Milan Design Week (21–26.04.2026): Everyday, 11am–8pm Free entry, no booking requiredBOOKINGBooking required on vicomagistretti.it
Masterclass ECAL – Joe Dante,14.04.2026, 18:00,IKEA Auditorium, ECAL In collaboration with the Cinémathèque suisse, the ECAL Cinema Department organises a masterclass by director Joe Dante, a leading figure in 1980 s fantasy cinema. Joe Dante, born in 1946, is a major American filmmaker trained at Roger Corman s New World Pictures. He made a name for himself with Piranha (1978), a film that blends satire, fantasy, and a tribute to B-movies. He achieved international success with Gremlins (1984), produced by Steven Spielberg, which has become a classic of fantasy cinema. His extensive filmography includes The Howling (1981), Explorers (1985), Innerspace (1987), and Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003), revealing a childlike imagination that remains critical of American society. With his blend of cinematic references and affection for outsiders, Joe Dante is a director capable of entertaining while questioning the world. From March 21 to April 29, the Cinémathèque suisse is presenting a retrospective dedicated to Joe Dante at the Capitole cinema in Lausanne. The director will be in attendance on April 15 for a special evening featuring a screening of Gremlins. Discussion moderated by Lionel Baier.DATES & SCHEDULE14.04.2026 6pm Free entryVENUEIKEA Auditorium ECAL Avenue du Temps 5 1020 Renens, Suisse
Watches and Wonders 2026,14–20.04.2026,Palexpo, Geneva At the exhibition Watches and Wonders Geneva 2026, ECAL presents two original installations that invite visitors to explore the concept of time. Created by 18 students from the Master s program in Design for Luxury and Craftsmanship under the guidance of the Lausanne-based studio Panter&Tourron — designers and teachers at ECAL — these projects offer visitors a range of experiences exploring the concept of Time. Presented as both functional and narrative installations, these creations are designed to accompany and punctuate the visitor s experience of the fair. Among the developed proposals, two installations have been selected for their ability to combine conceptual creativity, formal quality and interaction with the public. They will be presented from April 14 to 20, 2026 at Palexpo, Geneva. The Dial by Anna Andersson & Huisu Cho Located at the main entrance to the exhibition, The Dial serves as a welcoming and social space, designed to act both as a landmark and a place to pause. Organised around a central pillar, the installation comprises twelve modules — eight seats and four consoles — suggesting the structure of a clock dial. Through a play on proportions, details and mirrored surfaces, the ensemble transposes the codes of horology onto the scale of the space. The Dial offers an experience that is both functional and contemplative, designed to accommodate various activities: waiting, working, observing. Engraved quotations punctuate the surfaces and celebrate the passing of time, whilst blending into the rhythm of the fair. Balade Mécanique by Chiara Corno & Maxime Billoud Balade Mécanique is a mural that offers a contemporary reinterpretation of the art of paper cutting, an emblematic practice of Switzerland s visual heritage recalling Alpine traditions. In seven sequences, the installation invites visitors to venture into a setting that celebrates nature and watchmaking. Evoking the passage of time, the narrative begins with watch movement components that metamorphose into organic forms: aquatic creatures, insects, and then water lilies resting on the surface of the water.
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... DATES AND OPENING TIMESOpening reception Thursday 09.04 at 5pm Dates 09.04–09.05.2026 Tues.–Fri., 2pm–6pm and by appointment Museum Night Saturday 09.05.2026, 6pm–12pmVENUEHGB Gallery Wächterstrasse 11, Leipzig, Allemagne 04107 Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Academy of Fine Arts LeipzigHEAD OF PROGRAMMES, WEBSITEHochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst, HGB GalleryRelated 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
Suspended Motion By conceptualizing and producing visual content as part of an editorial series, students will explore the concept of applied photography in a practical, creative, and professional manner, working closely with Art Director Nicolas Poillot.
ANALOG MEDIUM FORMAT WORKSHOP DRIVE For this week s theme, “Drive,” first-year photography students were asked to create a portrait shot on medium-format film. Inspired by the sensation of a first driving experience, travel, empowerment, or discovery, the week aimed to explore the relationship between one or more people and a vehicle.
ECAL Light House During a week of collaborative work, first-year students in the Visual Communication department at ECAL were given the ambitious task of creating a complete audiovisual experience, designing a light and sound architecture based solely on five original musical compositions. Using a central totem-like screen installation and projections on the surrounding walls, enhanced with lasers, they created a visual environment, broadcast in real time, which was presented as a performance to the public at the end of the week. The aim was to construct a universe capable of fully utilizing the space and the various stage elements, inviting the audience to move around and experience the live performance in its entirety. Five cross-functional creative groups, each with a different sound base, were supervised by Jean-Vincent Simonet and Léonard Guyot to produce images and test them throughout the week on the device, which was developed, set up and operated by a sixth group under the supervision of Florian Pittet, Matthieu Minguet and Achille Masson.
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
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.
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
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
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.