The Swiss city of Lausanne’s aim to create a new arts district kicks off with the opening of Plateforme 10, the 25,000 square meter new home for the Photo Elyée museum, the Musée Cantonal de Design et d’Arts Appliqués Contemporains and numerous cafés and restaurants.
Costing around $207.2 million and designed by Portuguese architects Aires Mateu, the site also houses the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts which opened two years ago.
“The MCBA was in a former palace and the other two were in mansions, none of which was predisposed to museum activity,” Patrick Gyger, Plateforme 10’s managing director, told Artnet:
“The site of the former car repair factory is gigantic and relatively calm and it means we can coordinate exhibitions along a common theme,” Gyger said. “Inaugurating a new, huge art center doesn’t happen often.”
For the inauguration of its new building, Photo Elysée is exhibiting work by the American artist, Tony Oursler. The Musée Cantonal de Design et d’Arts Appliqués Contemporains is hosting a train inspired exhibition featuring over 60 masterpieces by artists such as Giorgio de Chirico, Edward Hopper, Paul Delvaux and Leonor Fini. Also on display at the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts is a showcase of the work of Gustave Buchet, a signal figure of early-20th-century avant-garde movements in Switzerland.
