Communicating
the arts 25
Lausanne
27 - 29 SEPTEMBER 2021

The Swiss sculptor, Yves Dana invites us in his studio in the Orangerie of Parc Mon Repos in the heart of Lausanne, for an exclusive evening reception.

The sumptuous nineteenth century Orangery was built in 1824 and is a Swiss national heritage building. This huge double-height space allows Dana to create his sculpture on any scale he chooses.

© Yves Dana | Lausanne, Suisse | 2020

Yves Dana was born in 1959, in Alexandria, Egypt.

In 1961, the Dana family left Egypt, settling in Switzerland.

He currently lives and works between two workshops, his primary workshop in The Orangery in Lausanne, and a second in the “sculpture capital,” Pietrasanta in Tuscany, Italy.

Dana has worked in iron, stone and bronze throughout the various stages and directions in the development of his sculpture practice. During the last 40 years, Dana has participated in more than 50 solo exhibitions and more than a hundred collective exhibitions, typically accompanied by publications. The artist’s work has been presented regularly in Switzerland, Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, England, Singapore, Japan, and the United States.

Pick up you badge and conference Programme at

PLATEFORME 10
Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts
Place de la Gare 16
1003 Lausanne

Placemaking and artistic practices have at least one thing in common – imagination. In placemaking it is needed to (re)‐imagine a community and to transform spaces using a set of considerations such as inclusion and well‐being while providing a distinct sense of place. In artistic practice, imagination is located at the very heart of the matter.

For this experience the photographer Yury Toroptsov invites the participants to explore what constitutes their own notions of “My Place”. Each of us has a unique definition of what makes “our” place. We know it instinctually. It can be a safe secluded spot in the woods or a place in the sun to share with the others, etc. The goal of the experience is to translate the participants’ unique instinctual feelings of what each person perceives as “My Place” into images using smartphones.

We will use the site of Plateforme 10 as building blocks and prima materia to tell our individual stories and find ways to weave them into a collective narrative.

A collective work of art composed of individual contributions will be assembled at the end of the experience.

How it works:

We will start the session inside. You will be invited to introduce yourself and share with the group your personal notion of “My Place”.

Participants will be guided on a photo shoot in the vibrant neighborhood of Plateform 10. Equipped  with your smartphone you will be given the task to photograph things you feel correspond to your notion of “My Place.”

Upon return to the studio we will print the images and in a friendly exchange we will analyze photos searching for hidden patterns, connections and providing transformative insight. Each participant will then be asked to contribute one photo into a group fresco.

Duration: 10am – 1pm
Number of participants: 12 with smartphones
Please sign up for this Workshop!
Write an email to: janine@communicatingthearts.com

A welcoming, open environment will benefit from a large complementary programme that enriches this cultural platform in the heart of the Lausanne.

We invite inspiring cultural leaders and experts from within and outside the arts to hear from international trends toward placemaking, new urban ideas and revitalising rural areas. We learn from their challenges in the past and discuss how cultural organisations can best serve their cities.

Colorado is an arid state with increasing demands for water as more people migrate to this region to live and work. The City of Thornton, along with other growing cities near Denver, are creating ways to educate the public about wise water use and appreciation for preserving natural habitats more native to the area with less demand on limited water resources. Some of the most effective ways to share this water-wise message is through art. Thornton Arts and Culture Division partnered with the city’s Water Resources office and Parks Department on a public information campaign that visually enhanced public drains with messages and created pollinator gardens designed by artists.

Riga is a city full of culture & history. However, over time it became the place for stag dos, enticed by the cheap flights and beer. So how do you change the perception of a city and redefine what it means in people’s minds?

Wiedemann Lampe used culture as the catalyst for change, embedding it into the placemaking plans for the city. Helping set up a contemporary art biennial & a classical music festival to shift Riga to a cultural destination.  Developing tools that would help visitors navigate locations, information & interpretation. Today, Riga is named the no.1 destination for classical music and is listed as the ‘essential’ art destination of Europe. A new path has been laid down for the city’s future.

Recently, and more poignantly during the pandemic, it has become clear that cultural organisations have a new role in society. Through the work they produce and present, their synergies, the stance they adopt in the public sphere, their activities in public spaces and by applying principles of sustainability, diversity and inclusion to their own practices, they are powerful agents for social change. The increased significance of multifarious broadcasting within their activities over the past year has also brought them closer to media organisations in terms of their potential influence. Onassis Stegi is a fascinating case study in the realms of sustainability and social inclusion.

Despite improvement in cultural infrastructure and the rising number of cultural tourists that encounter art through museums and cultural districts, there is a growing sense of homogeneity. Research has emerged in relation to how social and cultural relations of power may be theorised considering the proliferation of the Arts globally. This flattening effect has emerged, paradoxically, concomitant to an expansion of the global arts map. Pascal Hufschmid’s involvement with Kochi and Oslo biennial has allowed him to begin analysing some of these complexities. He will illustrate these complexities with case studies relating to Kochi-Muziris Biennale and Oslo BIENNALEN.

It takes a bold City Council to agree to using creativity and comedy to educate the community on the environment, waste management and public precincts. Penrith City Council approached J9 to offer new ways to build awareness on wasting less and recycling more. J9 worked with artists, local organisations and diverse community groups – from the over 60’s to primary school students as well as those with no interest in the environment for 3 years. Following the success for the inaugural World Environment Day event, a family Festival, a short film competition and sell out comedy event, Talking Rubbish was launched and a new public precinct was activated.

To what extent has the pandemic been beneficial to streaming? Will subscribers renew their subscriptions? What digital content have cultural institutions put in place during the pandemic? How do cultural institutions see their future? The cultural marketing agency L’Oeil du Public conducted two surveys in April 2021, one among the Swiss population and one among 400 Swiss cultural institutions. Fabien will give the key takeaways from these surveys. With a focus on digital content, the surveys highlight some important drivers of cultural activities. They also give some insights on what can make a post-Covid strategy successful.  Fabien is CEO of L’Oeil du Public (Suisse).

The Orange County Museum of Art is at a pivotal moment. It sold its longtime structure at the edge of Orange County and relocated to the center, operating a temporary space while building a $73M museum opening in 2021. The geographic shift prompted a philosophic shift—from a museum that served a fraction of the community to a visitor-centered hub that welcomes everyone. Learn how OCMA leveraged this transition by conducting a wholesale re-examination of its practices, from the artists it exhibits to the training of frontline staff. At a time when most resources are directed toward its capital campaign, discover low-cost ways OCMA is expanding its audience as it builds a permanent home.

This case study will demonstrate how Designmuseum Danmark uses their event program to strategically reach out to local stakeholders with the aim of developing content and activities offering local, national and international audiences’ possible ways to engage with and explore the issue of sustainable design.

Designmuseum Danmark will share their key learnings in the process of establishing this annual event, that has become popular with audiences and participants and how they tackle limited budgets and many different needs – from audiences and stakeholders. And they will share how the covid-19 pandemic has changed the program, moving forward from 2021, adding new dimensions and challenges to the participatory focus.

Join this discussion that explores how museums can develop programs that deal with global issues and can become a platform for debate, dialogue, and community driven activities. This case study will share experiences and raise questions through Design for change, as an example, to inspire others.

Esme Ward is leading a transformative project at Manchester Museum, the UKs largest university museum, renewing its creative civic mission. It is the world’s first carbon literate museum with a mission to build a more sustainable world.

She explores the impact of the recently opened Manchester Museum Zero Waste Hub – a hub for ecological imagination, thinking and action. Developed in partnership with local businesses, researchers, students and environmental activists – this hybrid shop-display-workshop is transforming how the whole museum operates, communicates, collects and plans for the future. She reflects on wider lessons learned and the role of museums as pro-social spaces.

Today the conference is hosted by the

Palais de Rumine

Place de la Riponne 6, 1005 Lausanne, Switzerland

The Olympic Games represent an accelerator of urban and societal change. There are many positive examples of cities which, because they have become Olympic cities, have been able on the one hand to position themselves on the world map and on the other hand to transform both their image and their urban planning. This year, an entire historic district of Tokyo will showcase Olympic culture in the broadest sense, thus contributing to a new dynamism. This experience will also be available to global audiences digitally, bringing central Tokyo to the world.

Olympism is a philosophy of life, combining sport, culture and education. In this perspective, for the first time ever and at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020, the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage created the “Olympic Agora” with the aim to blend sport and culture. Here, the local public and digital audiences worldwide will be able to visit an exhibition of iconic Olympic symbols and treasures and art installations inspired by Olympism commissioned specially for the Olympic Agora and on view in the heart of the Japanese capital as well as online. Thanks to the involvement of renowned artists, the audience, and young people in particular, we will experience Olympic culture like never before; encouraging intercultural dialogue between Japan and the world.

The Olympic Agora is a project that demonstrates how art and culture can become an incubator to foster encounters and develop a social experience.

Atlantic Ballet Canada is a diverse company, with half of their team consisting of newcomers to Canada. They’ve been involved in developing partnerships and presenting works that reflect changing demographics, and actively support diverse forms of expression from indigenous and multicultural communities.

Led by Atlantic Ballet Canada, the Atlantic Immigration Summits were a series of public engagement symposiums that gathered 1,100 people from 70 communities for the largest and most diverse community gathering on immigration in Atlantic Canada. Over half the participants were newcomers from 20 countries, invited to share their experiences in panels and roundtables, leading to a proactive dialogue about inclusion, diversity, and building welcoming communities. The summits each centered around the ballet Alien, a highly personal work about the immigrant experience, and provided a model for how arts organizations can take a leadership role in catalyzing and leading community dialogue. Susan will share the outcome at CTA LAU.

Det Norske Teatret will present their long term strategic efforts to make theatrical arts relevant and accessible for groups and individuals outside of the traditional audiences. Main target groups are people and groups with a multicultural background and experience. The theatre has focused on building a diverse platform starting with the basics; mainly by creating their own actor education (Det Multinorske) and through establishing a new venue at Rommen Scene in a part of Oslo with a mainly multicultural demographic.

By actively building alliances with artists and entities sharing the same objectives or being in possession of experiences and knowledge that can further develop, their aim is to “change through action”. They are currently establishing a talent programme for young people interested in developing their skills in directing, set design or skills for sound and lighting designs.

In the past year they have focused on live streaming performances and making it possible to participate in a safe and infection free way during the pandemic. This has also proved to be important in lowering the obstacles for first time visitors. Their digital live stream of performances reached new audiences nationwide, including persons with various access challenges that otherwise would have been excluded.

Taking it’s closure for renovation as an opportunity to rethink its role, the Museum of Ixelles invites 10 residents biannually from the neighbourhood to exhibit an artwork in their home for a weekend. On Saturday, the viewing is restricted to the residents’ social circle as well as the other participants. On Sunday, the residents open up their homes to the public. 10 domestic spaces are thus turned into intimate micro museums, to be enjoyed one after the other. Midway through the project (2018-2020), it’s already possible to demonstrate how it opens up the art collection, enlarges the museum audience and strengthens community ties.

A project led in association with Patrimoine à Roulettes.

The diversity in European cities has changed drastically in the last 20 years. Changed demographics, the new media landscape, the abundance of leisure activities and budget cuts challenges the position of museums in their community.The Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art Gent, SMAK believes it’s essential to connect with the broad local community. Its present building is too small to be of good service to its community and show the extensive collection at the same time. The 20th anniversary collection exhibition “Highlights for a Future” was the ideal moment to involve the citizens of Gent and make them “own” their renowned collection of more than 2600 works of art. Did it work on a budget?

The aims of this project were to create more space for a growing number of visitors, new services and programs to better engage an increasingly diverse community, and greater access to the world’s best knowledge for all Victorians. The project was completed in December 2019 – on time and on budget – with the Library operational throughout. Daily visitation has increased by 35 per cent since the reopening.

All cultural organizations have in common their efforts to attract new audiences: more visitors and new communities to empower. The International Film Festival and Forum for Human Rights in Geneva has taken place each year since 2003, parallel to the UN Human Rights Council. It is the main event for cinema and human rights, with guests including Angelina Jolie or Ai Weiwei. The Festival offers screenings, exhibitions and debates in 65 locations : theaters and the UN, but also community centres, museums, sports clubs, hospitals, prisons and shelters. It has also screened films and debates in 60 countries.

Florida Museum of Photographic Arts (FMoPA) is a museum in Tampa, FL, USA, dedicated to exhibiting photographic art as central to contemporary life and culture. In Spring 2021, FMoPA produced The Chef’s Special, a community art project that featured over 80 portraits of the men and women behind the Tampa Bay area’s eating and drinking establishments. Zora Carrier, Ph.D., Executive Director of Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, will present the case study of The Chef’s Special and share specific success indicators, such as increased awareness, social media engagement, ticket sales, and new memberships. She will also share her experience of building a community-centered art institution.

Since summer 2019, the Art Education of the Fondation Beyeler started a collaboration with the neighborhood Primary school, Erlensträsschen that connects directly with the new museum building site. Together they develop joint participatory art projects. The first joint project, an Art Parcour with numerous workshop stations all along the way from the School to the Museum and back, took place in Autumn 2019. All nine classes were involved and experienced the way from their place to the museum and back in an artistic and joyful way. Currently, new participatory projects are underway. These include a special 4-part offer for Kindergarten children and jointly developed Museum games. The collaboration not only offers the 200 children a self-determined and deeply engaging art experience that involves all senses, it also opens the doors to their families and the larger community.

The close collaboration makes sure that interaction and participation are fundamental for every new project, but also that the art of placemaking and inclusion for children, teachers and museum staff becomes a living reality.

In 2019 the Austin Opera formed an Innovation Council of tech leaders in Austin to explore the future of the operatic experience, with a focus on AR and VR. The formation of that council really imbedded the values of innovation and experimentation into the organization. When the pandemic hit in 2020, the members of the Innovation Council helped the Opera pivot swiftly to digital and create our first nationally broadcast television programming, live streams, an online broadcast series, and our first VR opera experience.

The City and Tourism Boards of Geneva joined forces to promote the cultural offering to neighboring countries. Geneva has a diverse, rich and high-quality offer, but does not have a flagship institution to draw attention from potential travellers, and media. The goal of the project was to attract media and generate content that inspires travelers to spend several days in the city of Geneva. It consisted of a roadshow for 15 cultural institutions to meet media in Madrid, Paris and London, and was followed by a media trip four months later to discover the city and its territory. An unexpected dynamic started between the cultural institutions, where best practices and exchange projects started to take shape.

Carol Summerfield is the executive director at the History Center of Lake Forest and Lake Bluff, working within the museum to expand audience reach, incorporate new technology cost-effectively, and engage visitors through exhibit and programming. She supports strategic changes for educationally-focused clients as they connect with their audiences. Carol works to bring together the leading voices in museums, education, and cultural institutions to reach a wider audience.

NADIA is an international education and theatre project led by the ETC focused on young audiences.
The origins of this project are the questions raised by an increasing extremism in all parts of the world and more particularly by the phenomenon of radicalisation that it engenders.

In Belgium, Fabienne Glowacz, Doctor of Psychology at the University of Liège, conducted an evaluation of the NADIA project to measure the impact of theatre as a medium for raising awareness and preventing violent extremism and violent radicalization. Isabelle will share the outcome at the CTA LAU.

As audiences gather for this year’s Tokyo Olympic games (around their televisions and devices), it will be a very different experience – no roaring crowds and words of encouragement from the audience – no fans. The role of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum (USOPM) is even more important. It will act as a place to gather, celebrate our athletes, and share in their Olympic and Paralympic experience.

The USOPM is a symbol of perseverance in and of itself. The Museum opened in July 2020, at the height of the pandemic and has survived the past year despite tremendous obstacles. As of July 2021, the USOPM is nearly back to pre-pandemic attendance and approaching original projections.

Now what? What have we learned over the last year? What changes will occur (or not). The goal of this Case Study will be to illustrate how our observations, testing, and data collection strategies implemented throughout the design process have informed pivots in the design, new perspectives on visitor engagement and refinements to the visitor experience.

Please join John Christie, SVP, Business Planning & Strategy and Gretchen Coss, SVP Strategic Partnerships as they take us through lessons learned and strategies implemented to make the USOPM a world class emotional journey worthy of our athletes!

Join us for an exclusive evening reception at the fantastique Chateau Chillon located on Lake Geneva. Chillon is amongst the most visited castles in Switzerland and Europe.
Enjoy wine and food and discover the castle during a guided visit.

Copyright:
Vladimir Mucibabic – Shutterstock.com
OTV – L. Ryser

The integration of art into life is an ambition that has long-inspired artists and creative thinkers. Loosely modelled on the principles of the Bauhaus School, ‘applied arts’ disciplines like photography, design, architecture and film were central to MoMA from the start. These artforms are, more than ever, central to people’s lived experience everyday, yet the museum and the feeling it evokes continues to feel distant to many. In this presentation I will reveal detail from a recently commissioned audience study and share how we are starting to use these insights to reimagine our mission for the 21st century and bring our work into closer alignment with people’s everyday life.

Join Behind the Scenes Tours and Workshops at :

• The Olympic Museum
• ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne
• Palais de Rumine
• Arsenic – Contemporary Performing Arts Center
• mudac – Museum of contemporary design and applied art

In 2018, the Vaud state museums of the Palais de Rumine celebrated their 200 anniversary with COSMOS, an interdisciplinary exhibition. Opened as an encyclopaedic Museum in 1818 after the Independence of the Canton of Vaud, these Museums were initially housed under one roof in the Academy of Lausanne. Following the specialization of sciences and disciplines in the 19^th century, they separated and became increasingly independent from one another, relocating to different buildings in Lausanne. In 1906, they were regrouped at the Palais de Rumine along with the Fine Arts Museum (Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, MCBA), but continued to work independently of each other. With the departure of the MCBA for Plateforme 10, a new era is opening for science and history museums in Rumine.

With 5 million objects and specimens in storage from all over the world, including important local archaeological, zoological, mineral and paleontological series, the Rumine museums are building a new way of sharing and experiencing scientific knowledge with the public, addressing universal stakes with global and local collections.

The presentation will focus both on recent projects such as exhibitions (mixing arts and science to tackle global warming and mass extinction or about Swiss missionaries in Africa, about de-colonisation), inviting people outside the museum to make it (museomix) and future collaborations.

ECAL Digital Market, the result of a collaboration between ECAL and Formlabs, a 3D printing technology company, tackles important design issues: sustainability in manufacturing, on-demand production, the role of designers and open access sources. An exhibition combining a production site and a retail shop, design students and practitioners engage with visitors on the impact of these concerns on our consumption. Presented in leading cultural institutions in Milan, Basel and Tokyo, ECAL Digital Market was, at last, acquired by the Victoria & Albert museum’s “Rapid Response Collecting” initiative “(…) because they advance what design can do, or because they reveal truths about how we live.”

To answer this question The Olympic Museum is developing an interactive, modular space at the core of our permanent galleries. Our objective is to promote Olympic Heritage diversity and give visitors a first-hand experience of how we conserve our collections.
Combining hands-on and digital discovery of artefacts, images, and archives, this space encourages  exploration and interpretation, breaking with the current treatment of our collections in the permanent exhibition.
During the Safari Session we will discuss the importance of presenting our collections in different ways and the necessity of bringing our visitors behind the scenes.

Join Behind the Scenes Tours and Workshops at :

• Musée de l’Elysée
• The Olympic Museum
• Collection de l’Art Brut
• Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne

Current estimates put at 144,000 the number of people in Switzerland suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease and similar conditions.
Begun in 2016, a pilot mediation scheme for people with memory disorders offered a group of Alzheimer’s victims the chance to take part in specially designed interactive tours of the museum. Accompanied by a relative or carer, participants visited the museum several times.
With us you can look back over the genesis and evolution of this human adventure in the context of the Collection, and share the difficulties and successes we experienced. This is a mediation project that helps build self-esteem and adds to the quality of life of the sufferers and their families.

To answer this question The Olympic Museum is developing an interactive, modular space at the core of our permanent galleries. Our objective is to promote Olympic Heritage diversity and give visitors a first-hand experience of how we conserve our collections.
Combining hands-on and digital discovery of artefacts, images, and archives, this space encourages  exploration and interpretation, breaking with the current treatment of our collections in the permanent exhibition.
During the Safari Session we will discuss the importance of presenting our collections in different ways and the necessity of bringing our visitors behind the scenes.

Cultural spaces and events are all places of ‘civic seeing’ which continually evolve through participatory practices
and visitor agency. The ‘voice of the visitor’ is now considered fundamental to co-creating experiences. ‘muse’ is a
world-first real-time evaluation tool that allows organizations to embody their audiences. ‘muse’ transforms
qualitative experiences into quantitative data, driving innovative programming and exhibitions while also redefining
value. The playful application scaffolds visitor experience using drawings, audio recordings, photography and
interactive graphics to gauge emotions and desires. ‘muse’ outlines new frameworks for the making of place
through case studies.

Temporary shutdowns and reopenings are sometimes due to happier reasons than the pandemic we all endured, one of them being the construction of a new building and the move into its walls of an entire institution, from its archives and offices to its workshops and library. In such a case, how does an institution keep in touch with its local, national and international publics? What does its staff do? Are projects still on? We, at the Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, think about our temporary closure as an opportunity to boost our dialogue with our publics and professional users, and even expand it through on and offline new means of action. Inviting our community at large to dialogue and interact with us and unveiling to all our behind the scene activities during that particular time tickles its curiosity and brings forward whole new fruitful dynamics. It is also a good time to lean back in time as a team into the history of our museum to set its course into the future, and to reinvent a new name matching its new coat.

This case study will share with the participants the creativity and foresight spirit museums dispose of to challenge important changes and to negotiate successfully with the unexpected.