Exhibitions

What’s on at the moment

Esther Shalev-Gerz. White Out – Between Telling and Listening

05.03 – 04.08.2024

MCBA is pleased to present White Out – Between Telling and Listening, an installation by Esther Shalev-Gerz (*1948, Vilnius, Lithuania; lives and works in Paris), who offers us a portrait of a woman between two cultures, places, and timeframes.

Objects of Desire

08.03 – 04.08.2024

mudac presents Objects of Desire, an exhibition by the Vitra Design Museum.

Babi Badalov. Xenopoetri

02.02 – 28.04.2024

MCBA is pleased to announce the first solo exhibition in Switzerland devoted to the work of Babi Badalov. Both writing and drawing, the artist’s visual poetry explores the political and poetic possibilities of language.

The Collection

Permanent presentation

« Come and see here what you won’t see elsewhere! » is the slogan for the permanent exhibition, laid out chronologically over two floors to showcase treasures from Vaud’s art collections, with some three hundred works dating from the eighteenth century to the present day.

 

Dialogue between an Octopus and a Juicer

07.04.2023 – 04.08.2024

mudac reveals the treasures of its collection in a dedicated exhibition that offers a surprising and quirky exploration of the diversity of the museum’s collection from design to contemporary applied arts.

Discover Plateforme 10

With the 3-museum ticket, discover the arts district just a stone’s throw from Lausanne station. Valid for 3 months and transferable. Also available in a duo version.

Other exhibitions

Signal L

Ian Party x Swiss Film Archive
Immersion Typographique

 

The designer Ian Party invests Le Signal L, the new exhibition space of Plateforme 10, with Immersion Typographique, an installation conceived in collaboration with the mudac around the poster collections of the Cinémathèque suisse.

 

With the support of the Leenaards Foundation.

 

Opening on 27 October from 6 pm

 

To be seen from 28 October 2022 to 29 January 2023

The Arcades

The arcades are home to the Arcadia restaurant, the Nabi bar, the Espace créatif Caran d’Ache and art studios.

 

Espace créatif Caran d'Ache

DREAMSCAPE

 

From 16 November, Anaïs Coulon will be back at the Espace créatif Caran d’Ache with “DREAMSCAPE”, an anamorphic installation that takes up her work around the landscape: a colourful version of the Alpine landscape.

 

Anaïs Coulon grew up in a family of artists whose bohemian and colourful atmosphere influences her work today. After graduating from the Geneva School of Art and Design, she quickly worked as a graphic designer and experimented with numerous projects in various fields, both cultural and private. Over the years, she has developed a poetic language, on the borderline between graphic design and illustration. Often inspired by nature, her visuals alternate between luxuriance and minimalism and invite a certain contemplation. Curious and versatile, she explores different creative media and has recently developed her work in painting and on ceramics.

Upcoming shows

Man Ray

29.03 – 04.08.2024

“Etre totalement libéré de la peinture et de ses implications esthétiques”, tel fut le premier but avoué de Man Ray qui débuta sa carrière en tant que peintre. La photographie constituait une des ouvertures importantes de l’art moderne. Elle suscitait alors une remise en question des notions de représentation. C’est dans les années 1920 et 1930 que le médium photographique s’imposa dans les avant-gardes et que Man Ray se fit rapidement remarquer par sa virtuosité. Portraitiste de studio, photographe de mode, mais aussi artiste expérimental ayant exploré les potentiels de la photographie avec les figures de son entourage, Man Ray apparaît comme une figure aux facettes multiples. Considéré comme l’un des artistes majeurs du XXe siècle, proche de Dada, puis du surréalisme, il photographie le cercle artistique présent à Paris dans l’entre-deux-guerres.

Réalisée à partir d’une collection privée, l’exposition explore les sociabilités multiples de l’artiste, tout en présentant certaines de ces œuvres les plus emblématiques. L’exposition comprend des portraits d’artistes, d’écrivains et d’intellectuels de son entourage, notamment d’André Breton, de Lee Miller, de Meret Oppenheim, de Marcel Duchamp, de Pablo Picasso, de Salvador Dalí, et de James Joyce parmi d’autres. En plus de présenter un éblouissant who’s who de l’avant-garde parisienne, les œuvres mettent également en évidence les innovations en matière de photographie que Man Ray a réalisées dans Paris dans les années 1920 et 1930.

Cindy Sherman

29.03 – 04.08.2024

Constituée du dernier ensemble d’œuvres de Cindy Sherman, cette exposition présente une série de portraits improbables qui illustrent la transformation du moi. Le concept d’identité en tant que construction est un thème central qui traverse toute l’œuvre de Sherman ; dans cette série, l’artiste rend cette notion encore plus perceptible en assemblant des photographies des différentes parties de son propre visage en un ensemble d’images collées. Le résultat est une série de portraits totalement asymétriques – et donc apparemment déformés – dépeignant des personnages entièrement nouveaux qui prennent vie au cours du processus. 

“Je suis dégoûtée par la façon dont les gens se rendent beaux”, déclarait Sherman lors d’une interview il y a près de quarante ans, “je suis beaucoup plus fascinée par l’autre côté”. À bien des égards, cette exposition est l’aboutissement de ce sentiment. Tirés d’une série de vingt-six “créatures flottantes”, comme les appelle l’artiste, ces portraits défigurés et parfois disproportionnés incarnent l’œuvre la plus grotesque de Sherman à ce jour. Délibérément imprimé en grand format, Sherman confronte le spectateur à des détails habituellement jugés inesthétiques : rides, contorsions, maquillage mal appliqué. En attirant l’attention sur ces éléments si souvent lissés, Sherman sonde notre rapport à l'(in)attractivité et à la construction de soi. 

Née en 1954 dans le New Jersey, Cindy Sherman vit et travaille à New York. Elle a acquis une reconnaissance internationale avec sa série “Untitled Film Stills” (1977-1980) et, au cours des décennies qui ont suivi, elle a continué à examiner les thèmes liés à la représentation et à l’identité en se transformant et en se photographiant sous les traits de toute une série de personnages.

Christian Marclay × ECAL

29.03 – 02.06.2024

Quatre portraits capturés par une machine et tirés en quelques minutes ! Voici l’expérience offerte par le Photomaton depuis son invention en 1924. Le succès fut immédiat, notamment avec la multiplication des documents d’identité sur lesquels doivent figurer un portrait aux normes précises (tête nue, fond uniforme, expression neutre, etc.). Rares sont les personnes à ne pas connaître l’expérience du Photomaton – nom de cette cabine photographique installée dans les zones de grand passage. Automatisé, en libre-service, disponible 7j/7, socialement neutre, et surtout moins onéreux qu’un portrait chez un professionnel, moins intimidant aussi, ce procédé photographique démocratise l’acte de se faire tirer le portrait, rapidement, partout et à peu de frais. Ancêtre du Polaroid, et du selfie, formé à partir des termes “photo” et “automaton”, ce procédé sans opérateur, véritable photographe automate, offrant quatre tirages uniques, a souvent fasciné les artistes. En 1929, André Breton et ses amis surréalistes s’intéressaient déjà à cette boîte à images. 

Photo Elysée a fait l’acquisition il y a quelques années d’un studio photo automatisé. Depuis lors, le musée invite le public à se photographier et laisser, s’il le souhaite, ses portraits pour ainsi construire une œuvre collective. L’artiste Christian Marclay, invité à plonger dans les collections de Photo Elysée en 2021, a exploré les milliers de visages enregistrés par le Photomaton du musée. Avec lui, les étudiants en photographie de l’ECAL/Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne ont exploré, scanné, métamorphosé les tirages conservés. L’idée du projet était de s’approprier les images analogues et de les ouvrir à des expérimentations pour y raconter de nouvelles histoires.

Aurélie Pétrel × Fabien Vallos × HEAD × ENSP

29.03 – 02.06.2024

“View and Data” (working title) is the result of research and creative work on the concept of “data” in art, and more specifically in photography. This project is a collaboration between the HEAD Geneva, the ENSP Arles and Photo Elysée. The advent of the internet and connected mobile devices has led to a more fluid flow of photography, which now circulates in the form of files and data packages. Accompanied by the artist Aurélie Pétrel, students from the two schools tackle the limits of photography when it comes into contact with digital technologies. 

Surrealism. Le Grand Jeu

12.04 – 25.08.2024

This transhistorical show, the first thematic exhibition devoted to Surrealism at MCBA since 1987, examines the unprecedented relevance today of this major movement in the history of art. Surrealism, a young centenarian, hasn’t aged one bit.

Gina Proenza. You and Your Gang Manor Art Prize 2024 Vaud

24.05 – 01.09.2024

The Manor Art Prize 2024 Vaud has been awarded to Gina Proenza (*1994, Bogotá, Colombia; lives and works in Lausanne and Geneva). For the occasion, the artist has been invited to take over the museum’s Espace Projet gallery for a new exhibition. Proenza convinced the jury with the originality and subtlety of her formal idiom and its references, and the impressive extent and depth of her practice.

Sabine Weiss & Nathalie Boutté

22.06 – 29.09.2024

To celebrate the centenary of Sabine Weiss’ birth, Photo Elysée is putting on a show in tribute to the photographer who died in 2021. The museum will unveil various treasures from among the 200,000 negatives and 7,000 contact sheets in the collection received in 2017.  

Sabine Weiss was a major figure in humanist photography, a movement born in France after the Second World War. Throughout her career, the photographer was driven by an insatiable curiosity about others, whether in France where she settled in 1946 or during her many trips across Europe, the United States and Asia, where she continued to travel until the end of her life.  

Photo Elysée has one of the world’s largest collections devoted to photography. It spans the entire history of the medium, from its invention in the 19th century to digital technologies. At Photo Elysée, Sabine Weiss joins other great names from the world of photography such as René Burri, Leonard Freed, Henriette Grindat, Monique Jacot, Lehnert & Landrock and Ella Maillart. 

Tamara Janes

22.06 – 29.09.2024

“Set and setting” presents the first institutional solo show of Swiss artist Tamara Janes. Janes is fascinated by how we see, question, and change the post-modern conditions of the image. She addresses these issues by utilising a unique blend of high-culture and popular culture sources that captivate audiences and humorously expose both profound and mundane aspects of contemporary visual culture. A large part of the exhibition shows bodies of work she made after researching the New York Public Library Picture Collection in 2018. It acts as a source of images for her, which she later organizes, adjusts, recontextualizes and modifies based on her artistic preferences. 

Nuit des images

22.06 – 22.06.2024

In 2024, the Nuit des images makes its comeback with a new playground: the Plateforme 10 arts district. The venue changes, but the DNA remains! An essential part of Lausanne’s cultural landscape, the event launched over thirty years ago by the museum has a tradition of celebrating photography in a variety of forms.

Playing with the building, the event is urban and festive: XXL projections on the facades; creative activities; music on the esplanade and original exhibitions.

The Nuit des images brings together audiences of all ages, from the well-informed to the curious, from image connoisseurs to image lovers, in a convivial summer atmosphere. Swiss and international artists of all generations are invited for the occasion.

André Tommasini. A Life to sculpture

06.09.2024 – 05.01.2025

Drawing on unpublished documents, the exhibition spotlights the life and work of the Lausanne sculptor André Tommasini (1931-2011).

Daido Moriyama

06.09.2024 – 12.01.2025

Photo Elysée is presenting a major exhibition devoted to one of Japan’s greatest photographers. This retrospective, produced by the Instituto Moreira Salles (Sao Paulo, Brazil), will be making a stopover in Switzerland after showing in Berlin and London. 

During the sixty years of his career, Daido Moriyama (born in Osaka in 1938) definitively altered our perception of photography. He used his camera to document his immediate surroundings and to visually explore post-war society in Japan. But he also challenged the very nature of photography itself.  

His incomparable visual language is as highly acclaimed as his numerous publications, which are at the heart of his work. 

Right from the start, viewers have been captivated by Moriyama’s photographic subjects, from the mass media and advertising to society’s taboos and the theatricality of everyday life. He captured the clash between Japanese tradition and the accelerated westernisation that followed the US military occupation of Japan after the end of the Second World War. Inspired by American artists such as Andy Warhol and William Klein, the photographer brought Japan’s nascent consumer society to life. He explored the reproducibility of images, their dissemination and their consumption. Moriyama repeatedly positioned his archive of images in new contexts, playing with enlargements, cropping and image resolution. Even today, his pioneering artistic spirit and visual intensity remain innovative. 

Uriel Orlow. Forest Futurism

27.09.2024 – 05.01.2025

For his show in the MCBA Espace Projet venue, Uriel Orlow (b. 1973 in Zurich; lives and works between Lisbon, London and Zurich) is presenting a series of new works from a research project begun in Bolzano (Italy) which takes fossilised trees as its main subjects, in order to explore the extended time of climate change.

Thalassa, Thalassa! The Imagery of the Sea

04.10.2024 – 12.01.2025

This show challenges us with a singular landscape, the sea, in works of art from the 19th century to the present. What role have artists played in fashioning its imagery? How do they express our desire to preserve its mysteries and beauties?

Maya Rochat

01.11.2024 – 12.01.2025

In the Fall, Photo Elysée extends a carte blanche to Swiss visual artist Maya Rochat. Through her artistic endeavors, she deftly engages with images, skillfully superimposing and manipulating them to craft vibrant and saturated visual montages, which she presents as distinctive, textured installations. Maya Rochat’s creative exploration spans photography, painting, installation, and performance. Whether working in situ, within or beyond conventional institutions, her work manifests an artistic fascination with organic language expressed through diverse media—be it analog or digital, figurative or abstract, printed or in motion.