The idea behind EXECAL Meetings or Social evenings is to offer regular events designed to promote networking and convivial relationships within EXECAL network.
These are meetings between EXECAL members and ECAL students, which take place in principle once a year from 2020.
Guests are selected among ECAL Alumni. To add to the interest of these meetings, guests must be able to offer attractive profiles and careers.
TELEVISION – A photographic essay on the staging of the news
🗣️ Speakers: Sophie Huguenot, Marc Dubois, Laura Nieder
🗓 Thursday 8 October 2026, at 6.30 pm
📍 ECAL, Leenaards Lecture Theatre
🇫🇷 Language of presentation: French
Followed by drinks 🍷🥪
📩 Free admission with registration: execal@ecal.ch
Between 2011 and 2019, Sophie Huguenot documented life behind the scenes at RTS Info, the public radio and television broadcaster in French-speaking Switzerland, adopting an approach that ran counter to the fast-paced flow of media in the digital age. Using a large-format analogue view camera – a symbol of slowness and meticulousness – she captured the moments off-camera, the pauses and the human element in the face of technological change, offering a detached perspective on the making of the news.
In 2025, she published her work with Spector Books: TELEVISION – A photographic essay on the staging of the news.
At the same time, the interactive website television.photo – developed in collaboration with INT Studio – builds on this approach by offering non-linear, dynamic navigation: a different way of discovering and exploring this collection of images. Through a series of cropping, zooming in and zooming out, the experience evokes the off-screen space of a television set, allowing users to isolate specific elements within a single image.
🎓 Sophie Huguenot
A photographer based in Lausanne, Sophie obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Photography from ECAL in 2006, followed by a postgraduate diploma in Visual Communication in 2008. She then worked for several years at ECAL and ERACOM (Ecole romande d’arts et de communication) respectively. She is currently head of photography for the Professional Media and Design course at the School of Visual Arts in Bern and Biel.
INT was founded in 2019 by Laura Nieder, David Colombini and Marc Dubois, who graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Media & Interaction Design from ECAL in 2014 and are also the three artists behind fragmentin, a collective at the crossroads of art and engineering whose works are conceived as spaces for reflection on major contemporary issues such as climate change.
With over 8 years’ experience, INT Studio is renowned for its bold experimentation with cutting-edge technologies. INT offers brand activation strategies and immersive digital experiences that prioritise audience engagement and emotional connection.
The studio works primarily with cultural and public sector partners, such as museums, theatres and foundations, as well as with universities, organisers of large-scale events, brands and major corporations.
Images: ECAL / Clara Stote
EXECAL Evening
STRECKE RECORDS ARCHIVES 16-22
With Thibault Villard and the book team
🗓 Saturday 7 June 2025, 16:00-18:00
📍 M.S.B.W.B. (Music Sounds Better With Books)
Place du Tunnel 10, Lausanne
🍷 🥨 Followed by an aperitif in the middle of Place du Tunnel.
🇫🇷 In French with free translation into English on request 🇬🇧
📩 Free admission with registration: execal@ecal.ch
📖 strecke records archives 16-22
Published in July 2024
Art direction: Thibault Villard
Graphic design: Timo Tiffert (dirtygraphik)
Publishing and printing: Le Cric print+ edition (Marly, CH)
https://cricprint.ch/strecke-records-archives-16-22/
🏆 Awarded at the Most Beautiful Swiss Books 2024 (awarded in 2025)
https://www.themostbeautifulswissbooks.ch
In 2016, a group of friends with a passion for music decide to form a music collective and label in Fribourg, Switzerland. Embracing styles ranging from bass music to hardcore continuum and techno, they released 15 EPs up to 2022, while organising performances, after-parties and concerts.
The wealth of archives presented in this edition reflects a particular period in a small Swiss town and the evolution of the underground circuit. strecke records, based at ‘La Fonderie’, became a meeting point for part of the Swiss electronic scene between 2016 and 2022.
🎓 Thibault Villard obtained his Bachelor's degree in Cinema in 2020.
🔗 Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/thibaultxvvv/
Timo Tiffert obtained his Bachelor's degree in Graphic design in 2021.
🔗 Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/dirtygraphik/
EXECAL who were involved in the project in one way or another:
Mélanie Pastor Courtinat (BA-MID 2017)
Yatoni Roy Cantú (BA-CI 2018 + MA-CI 2022)
Line Chevalley (BA-AV 2018)
Loïc Dupasquier (BA-DG 2020)
Vera Gonzalez-Ponce (BA-DG 2023)
Sven Odermatt (BA-DI 2023)
Virginie Sistek (BA-AV 2021)
Gaël Corboz (BA-PH 2020)
Emilie Fradella (MA-AV 2019)
Luca Kasper (BA-MID 2018)
M.S.B.W.B. shop
In the background: Thibault Villard (on the right) and Maxime Barras, Editions Le Cric (on the left)
From left to right: DJ StaStava, Thibault Villard
With UV lamp
With UV lamp
DJ StaStava
Raffle draw to win 2 books in a tote bag
The lucky winners
Aperitif on Tunnel's Square
Thibault Villard (guest) + Yoo-Mi Steffen (organizer)
📷 ECAL / Nicolas Tripod
EXECAL Meeting #3
Thursday 4 May 2023, 6:30 pm
ECAL, Leenaards Auditorium
A new design for the Swiss passport
with Guillaume Peitrequin (ECAL graduate in Bachelor Graphic Design 2009) and Carl Guilhon
18:30 - Presentation in English
19:30 - Lottery, Apéritif
Switzerland’s next-generation passport series was issued late October 2022 by the Federal Office of Police (fedpol). Since 1959, the distinctive red passport is considered as one of the most sophisticated and secure travel documents. Commissioned with the new design, the Geneva-based creative studio RETINAA wanted to honour the tradition of innovation in Swiss graphic arts. In close collaboration with a group of experts led by fedpol, and in cooperation with Thales and Orell Füssli, a bold design was developed that meets the high standards of Swiss security documents and aims to tell a story.
Crédit : RETINAA
Crédit : ECAL/Marvin Merkel
Crédit : ECAL/Marvin Merkel
Crédit : ECAL/Marvin Merkel
Crédit : ECAL/Marvin Merkel
Crédit : ECAL/Marvin Merkel
Crédit : ECAL/Marvin Merkel
Crédit : ECAL/Marvin Merkel
Crédit : ECAL/Marvin Merkel
After a first edition at the end of February 2020 which was quite successful, the second edition of the EXECAL Meeting took place Tuesday 22 March 2022 at 6.30 pm at the ECAL around the Enabled by Design (EBD) project.
Daphna Glaubert briefly presented the EBD project before handing over to our guests speakers:
- Fabien Roy (MA-DP 2020)
- Pierre Benoit (BA-DG 2012)
- Joëlle Aeschlimann (BA-MID 2012)
The meeting ended around 8pm and was followed by tombola and an aperitif.
Daphna presents the Enabled by Design project
Fabien Roy
Pierre Benoit
Joëlle Aeschlimann
Raphaël Lutz (ECAL alumnus), one of the winners of the lottery
Images: ECAL/Santiago Martinez
EXECAL MEETING #1
Thursday 27 February 2020
at ECAL (IKEA Auditorium)
Presentations by guests in English. Free entrance.
6 - 8 pm : presentations, lottery
from 8 pm : aperitif
Léa PEREYRE (BA-DI 2015)
currently drone costume designer at Verity Studios in Zurich.
https://www.instagram.com/dronecostumedesign/
Hugo HOPPMANN (BA-DG 2011)
graphic designer and art director between Berlin et NYC, for clients including Nike, 032c, Prada, District Vision.
https://www.instagram.com/hugohoppmann/
A huge THANK YOU to our two guests who masterfully presented their work !
Léa & Hugo, the numerous participants, the organizing team and the friendly atmosphere contributed to the success of this event.
Photos: ECAL/Jimmy Rachez + Julie Corday