Exhibitions

Inspired by the architecture of transitional spaces, Giulia Essyad transforms the MCBA’s Espace Projet gallery into a sensory and spiritual labyrinth. Recipient of the 9th Gustave Buchet Prize, the Lausanne-born artist explores the mechanisms of desire and commodification through an immersive installation that weaves together DIY technologies, digital imagery, and personal memories.

Twenty years after opening its doors to emerging photographers with the exhibition reGeneration: 50 Photographers of Tomorrow, Photo Elysée continues its commitment to young creators.

In 2025, the museum will unveil a new chapter in this adventure with Gen Z: Shaping a New Gaze, a show that brings together the work of more than 60 photographers from across the world, primarily from Generation Z – commonly defined as those born between the mid-1990s and 2010.

Co-produced by the Institut pour la photographie in Lille and Photo Elysée, L is for Look explores children’s photo books, from their industrial boom in the 1930s to the present day. Although this type of publication remains marginal in the publishing landscape, it bears witness to the evolution of our perception of photography, the history of education, and the status of children in Western societies over more than a century.

Children’s photobooks have benefited from the emergence of new image-centered teaching methods. Photography is finding its way into all areas of children’s literature, from picture books to fiction, including works with educational, pedagogical, or creative aims. By renewing this publishing genre, it is also opening up to new and original forms, thanks to the collaboration of graphic designers, artists, illustrators, and authors.

Plateforme 10 hosts both MCBA and the Félix Vallotton Foundation. The former which conserves the largest collection of the artist’s works anywhere, and the latter, a documentation and research centre, are honoured to present a major retrospective devoted to Félix Vallotton (1865-1925) to commemorate in the artist’s native city of Lausanne the centenary of his death.

In conjunction with Vallotton Forever, featuring the artist’s masterpieces, this small-format show focuses on the origins of Félix Vallotton’s work, exploring the various phases of his growing output in a surprising range of mediums, including illustration, engraving, painting, even writing.

Photo Elysée offers a critical reinterpretation of the photographic archives of the Lehnert & Landrock studio, which have been part of the museum’s collection since 1985. Active in North Africa in the early 20th century, Rudolf Franz Lehnert (1878–1948) and Ernst Heinrich Landrock (1878–1966) constructed and disseminated an iconography of the Orient intended for a European audience, deeply marked by the colonial context of their time.

The original archives are exhibited alongside contemporary works by Nouf Aljowaysir and Gloria Oyarzabal, which explore the history and legacy of colonial representations.

mudac and Fondation Toms Pauli are proud to present an exceptional exhibition dedicated to tapestry as a vector for social and political discourse.

In 2025, the Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts of the City of Lausanne (mudac) will give Swiss designer Kévin Germanier carte blanche to take over the museum with the same originality and creativity that have characterised his approach to fashion for several years.

MCBA, in collaboration with the Musée d’Art moderne, Paris, is presenting a major exhibition devoted to the work of Otobong Nkanga. Conceived in collaboration with the artist, it will run from 10 October 2025 to 23 February 2026 in Paris, then from 3 April to 23 August 2026 in Lausanne.