A new long train for art has arrived at the station, with three new museums acting as wagons full of works, objects and images. And that station is Lausanne, Switzerland.
A new cultural hub – located at Plateforme 10 – introduces itself to the world with a solid set of institutions dedicated to the world of arts and design which transcend the limitations of each discipline.
After the opening in 2019 of the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts (MCBA) – an architectural work by the Italian-Spanish duo Barozzi-Veiga – the great construction site has finally closed and another “jewel in the crown” has opened its doors, a new museum center that is home to two other institutions: mudac (Musée cantonal de design et d’arts appliqués contemporains) and the Photo Elysée (Musée cantonal pour la photographie), completing the great visionary project of a museum hub, a rare European exception.

This is way Lausanne was recently awarded the prize ‘Emerging Cultural Destination’ at the Leading Cultural Destinations (LCD) Berlin Awards 2022, recognizing the most attractive cultural destinations and institutions by highlighting the symbiosis of culture, art and travel.
The Swiss city already had many attractions. Touristically, because it overlooks Europe’s largest lake in front of the highest Alps in Europe and is located in the middle of the vineyards of Lavaux, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Culturally, it is one of Switzerland’s few multi-purpose destinations thanks to its museums and schools of art, design and architecture. And sportingly, because it is home to the Olympic Museum and the IOC, the International Olympic Committee. Now it has raised the level of interest and attraction in the world of arts and design and thus joins a healthy competition with Geneva, Basel and Zurich, which are already international benchmark destinations.



“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
Poster “Rencontrons-nous à la gare”, mudac
Graphic design: Notter+Vigne, Photolithography: Roger Emmenegger, Photography: Adien Millot

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
Photo © Olga Cafiero

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
View of the exhibition “Rencontrons-nous à la gare”, mudac
Photo © Olga Cafiero

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
View of the exhibition “Rencontrons-nous à la gare”, mudac
Photo © Olga Cafiero

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
“Rencontrons-nous à la gare”, mudac
White neon tubes, W 2.65 m x H 11.7 cm, 11 mm tube
© Aurélien Mole. Courtesy of the artist and the Dohyang Lee Gallery

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
Sophie Calle, Anatoli (detail), 1984, mudac
Colour photographs, black and white photographs, text, 266 × 905 cm (18 × 23 cm each) Collection FRAC Centre-Val de Loire, Orléans © Martin Argyroglo Courtesy FRAC Centre-Val de Loire © 2022, ProLitteris, Zurich

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
Maxime Drouet, Brume 25072021, 2021, mudac
Railway carriage doors with video and illuminated paint, 195 × 150 × 10 cm Montreuil, Studio of the artist © Maxime Drouet

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
Studio Job, Train Crash Table, 2015, mudac
Polished and patinated bronze, 75 × 200 × 90 cm Paris, Carpenters Workshop Gallery © Jean-Pierre Vaillancourt Courtesy Studio Job and Carpenters Workshop Gallery

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
SNCF train tail lantern, date unknown, mudac
Metal and plastic, 20 x 14 x 37.5 cm. SBB Archives, Windisch © SBB Historic, Benedikt Redmann

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
Takis, Signal (stop), 1974, mudac
Sculpture, iron, steel, electrical system and light bulbs, 255 x 45 x 34.5 cm. Private collection, Geneva. Courtesy Xippas. Copyright: © 2022, ProLitteris, Zurich. Photo credits: © Frédéric Lanternier

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
Rémi Perret, Halte en Gare, 2019, mudac
Steel, wood, leather, foam from former SNCF Z 6100 railcars nicknamed “Petits Gris”, 150 x 120 x 150 cm. Lausanne, mudac collection.©Maxime Huriez. Donation from TRANSILIEN SNCF to the Fondation PLATEFORME10

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
“Destins croisés”, Photo Elysée
Olivia Bee, “Paris at Sunrise (Poppy)”, 2013
© Courtesy Olivia Bee / Galerie Du Jour Agnès B.

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
“Destins croisés”, Photo Elysée
Courtesy Catherine Leutenegger

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
“Destins croisés”, Photo Elysée
Courtesy Catherine Leutenegger

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
“Voyages imaginaires”, MCBA
Delvaux
Courtesy MCBA

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
Poster “Rencontrons-nous à la gare”, mudac
Graphic design: Notter+Vigne, Photolithography: Roger Emmenegger, Photography: Adien Millot

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
Photo © Olga Cafiero

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
View of the exhibition “Rencontrons-nous à la gare”, mudac
Photo © Olga Cafiero

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
View of the exhibition “Rencontrons-nous à la gare”, mudac
Photo © Olga Cafiero

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
“Rencontrons-nous à la gare”, mudac
White neon tubes, W 2.65 m x H 11.7 cm, 11 mm tube
© Aurélien Mole. Courtesy of the artist and the Dohyang Lee Gallery

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
Sophie Calle, Anatoli (detail), 1984, mudac
Colour photographs, black and white photographs, text, 266 × 905 cm (18 × 23 cm each) Collection FRAC Centre-Val de Loire, Orléans © Martin Argyroglo Courtesy FRAC Centre-Val de Loire © 2022, ProLitteris, Zurich

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
Maxime Drouet, Brume 25072021, 2021, mudac
Railway carriage doors with video and illuminated paint, 195 × 150 × 10 cm Montreuil, Studio of the artist © Maxime Drouet

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
Studio Job, Train Crash Table, 2015, mudac
Polished and patinated bronze, 75 × 200 × 90 cm Paris, Carpenters Workshop Gallery © Jean-Pierre Vaillancourt Courtesy Studio Job and Carpenters Workshop Gallery

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
SNCF train tail lantern, date unknown, mudac
Metal and plastic, 20 x 14 x 37.5 cm. SBB Archives, Windisch © SBB Historic, Benedikt Redmann

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
Takis, Signal (stop), 1974, mudac
Sculpture, iron, steel, electrical system and light bulbs, 255 x 45 x 34.5 cm. Private collection, Geneva. Courtesy Xippas. Copyright: © 2022, ProLitteris, Zurich. Photo credits: © Frédéric Lanternier

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
Rémi Perret, Halte en Gare, 2019, mudac
Steel, wood, leather, foam from former SNCF Z 6100 railcars nicknamed “Petits Gris”, 150 x 120 x 150 cm. Lausanne, mudac collection.©Maxime Huriez. Donation from TRANSILIEN SNCF to the Fondation PLATEFORME10

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
“Destins croisés”, Photo Elysée
Olivia Bee, “Paris at Sunrise (Poppy)”, 2013
© Courtesy Olivia Bee / Galerie Du Jour Agnès B.

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
“Destins croisés”, Photo Elysée
Courtesy Catherine Leutenegger

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
“Destins croisés”, Photo Elysée
Courtesy Catherine Leutenegger

“Train Zug Treno Tren”, Mudac, Lausanne
“Voyages imaginaires”, MCBA
Delvaux
Courtesy MCBA
This entire district, a proper art district covering an urban surface area of approximately 25,000 square meters and reclaiming old areas of the city’s railway and central station – and showing cities like Milan how and what can be done in its many railway yards that have been disused for decades – is configured as an open and intercultural, integrated and interactive space, with continuous exchanges, encounters and comparisons between different art forms, between painting and sculpture, design and applied arts, photography and image culture, of the past, present and above all the future.
The opening exhibition of the new museum center has a common and specific general direction. It is entitled “Train Zug Treno Tren”, a typically Swiss theme of collective cohesion, as well as being perfect for the genius loci of the new platform, and it hosts three separate but complementary exhibitions, respectively “Voyages imaginaires” at the MCBA, “Destins croisés” at the Photo Elysée and “Rencontrons-nous à la gare” at mudac. Moreover, you can visit all three museums with a single ticket, and if you do not use all the entries, you can give them to another visitor.
For the opening and inauguration exhibition (curated by Deputy Director Marco Costantini with Rafaël Santianez), the theme of the “Train”, common to the museums of Plateforme 10, was interpreted by Mudac with the title “Rencontrons-nous à la gare”. Last but not least, there is a first temporary exhibition linked to the permanent collection, with the significant and very topical title “Écouter la Terre” (curated by Amélie Bannwart and Isaline Vuille).
Opening image: MCBA, photo © Nora Rupp

Plateforme 10, Losanna
Corner view with entrance and exit of the new mudac / Photo Elysée
Photo © Matthieu Gafsou

Plateforme 10, Losanna
In the foreground the MCBA
Photo © Nora Rupp

Plateforme 10, Losanna
On the left the MCBA and in the background the new museum of Aires Mateus, seat of the mudac and the Photo Elysée
Foto © Matthieu Gafsou e © Olivier Vogelsang

Plateforme 10, Losanna
Access stairs to the elevated city
Foto © Matthieu Gafsou e © Olivier Vogelsang

Plateforme 10, Losanna
View from the edge of the city towards the new pedestrian square of the museums
Foto © Matthieu Gafsou e © Olivier Vogelsang

Plateforme 10, Losanna
Access stairs to the city and gardens on the roof of the mudac / Photo Elysée
Foto © Matthieu Gafsou e © Olivier Vogelsang

Plateforme 10, Lausanne
Showcases of the new commercial and catering activities in the old basement warehouses
Foto © Matthieu Gafsou e © Olivier Vogelsang

Plateforme 10, Losanna
View from the roof of the new mudac / Photo Elysée
Foto © Matthieu Gafsou e © Olivier Vogelsang

Plateforme 10, Losanna
Area of relevance of the new mudac / Photo Elysée restaurant
Foto © Matthieu Gafsou e © Olivier Vogelsang

Plateforme 10, Losanna
On the left entrance to the MCBA and on the bottom entrance mudac / Photo Elysée
Foto © Matthieu Gafsou e © Olivier Vogelsang

Plateforme 10, Losanna
View of the lake and the alpine landscape from the new public roof garden above the roofing of the mudac / Photo Elysée
Foto © Matthieu Gafsou e © Olivier Vogelsang

Plateforme 10, Losanna
The façade of the new mudac / Photo Elysée seen from the top of the access stairs to the city district
Foto © Matthieu Gafsou e © Olivier Vogelsang

Plateforme 10, Losanna
The new mudac / Photo Elysée in half-night view demonstrates how even in the dark of night or winter this building is brightly attractive to the new district
Foto © Matthieu Gafsou e © Olivier Vogelsang