From 8 to 17 October 2024
LES CULTURELLES FALL 2024
Integrating artistic practices into EPFL campus life is one of the missions of the College of Humanities.
The Festival thus involves artists directly on the campus and invites students to participate in collective and collaborative events.
In this edition, five musical moments are proposed: a musical exploration of the cosmos; an expedition into an electro-visual space; a piano masterclass; the discovery of a little-known contemporary music work; and a guided visit of an exhibition on music. You will also be able to dance the tango and, with two dancers, you will revisit the outdoor spaces of the campus. At the Rolex Learning Center, you will be able to appreciate a sculptural installation created for the building. The works created by an artist while in residence at EPFL will also be on display. Last but not least, a LUNCHenPHILO meeting will provide an opportunity to chat with the two young authors of a comic strip on the life of Darwin.
These projects aim to set the body and mind in motion, to stir our minds, and to open up space for the imagination.
Free admission to all events (some with registration)
Program:
18h30 | EPFL Pavilions A
Concert
The Evohé vocal ensemble, accompanied by percussionist Anne Briset, take us on an interstellar journey through choral works that explore the observation of stars and space. Pieces byhttps://aurelienhallopeau.wixsite.com/music Hildegarde von Bingen, Grieg and Kodály revolve around “Analemme”, composed by EPFL graduate and composer Aurélien Hallopeau.
> Free admission
12h15 – 13h15 | Rolex Learning Center
Philosophical discussion-debate
What are the conditions for a scientist’s success and popularity? Starting with the astonishing story of Charles Darwin, the discussion will be opened by Adrien Miqueu, EPFL physics graduate and doctoral student in the history of science and religion at UNIL, and Camille Van Belle, science journalist and cartoonist. Both are co-authors of the comic strip Dans les pantoufles de Darwin (see illustration).
18h30 | Rolex Learning Center
Opening in the presence of the artist
Since 2011, the CDH-Culture has invited an artist to present a work of art in connection with the Rolex Learning Center. This year, the artist Delphine Reist has proposed La Rampe, an installation of some fifty mason buckets, filled with fresh concrete and tipped onto the floor. The installation will remain in situ until June 2025.
> Free access
18h30 | EPFL Pavilions A
Musical and visual performance
To construct the music, the artists gleaned sonic UFOs: sounds of bricks, engines and voices. This selection, like a plunge into raw sonic matter, formed a kind of frenetic, neo-ethno ritual. At the same time, the designers created images combining the archaic and the futuristic. The images and sounds revolve around the two meanings of the word “digital”: digital on the one hand, and tactile on the other.
> Free admission
12h00 | Forum Rolex
With pianist Cédric Pescia
Invited for the second time to EPFL by CDH-Culture for a concert, pianist Cédric Pescia offers a Masterclass based on pieces proposed, chosen and prepared by EPFL music students and PhDs. Cédric Pescia is a concert pianist and also teaches piano at the Haute école de musique de Genève (HEM). He generously offers his talent as a musician and teacher to listen to and dialogue with EPFL students and PhDs.
> Registration required (places are limited)
18h45 | Forum Rolex
Concert by pianist Cédric Pescia
Ecrite par le compositeur américain Charles Ives entre 1916 et 1919, Concord Sonata est une pièce avant-gardiste créée pour la première fois en 1939. Comportant quatre parties, pour piano seul et quelques ajouts de flûte et d’alto, elle rend hommage au mouvement philosophique transcendantaliste américain incarné, entre autres, par Ralph Waldo Emerson et Henry David Thoreau, Amos Bronson Alcott et Nathaniel Hawthorne.
> Entrée libre
12h00 à 13h00 | Esplanade
Dance
On Elément blanc, the marble sculpture by Owsky Kobalt installed on the Esplanade, members of the ArchiTango association dance to live music and invite the public to join in an initiation to the dance. The sculpture, installed in 1985 following the construction of the second phase of the EPFL buildings, is an icon of the Campus, often occupied by bodies in motion or at rest.
> Free admission and participation
12h00 – 12h40 | Departure from the Esplanade
Strolling with two dancers
Two dancers, Lia Schädler and Luana Volet, take us to the heart of the Campus for a dance promenade. They help us rediscover the complex space of streets, patios, galleries, terraces, gardens and corridors, inventing new, playful and always unexpected physical situations. A memorable visit guaranteed.
16h45 – 18h00 | EPFL Pavilions B
Exhibition
From medieval theory to contemporary AI, Musica ex Machina: Machines Thinking Musically explores the history of computational and algorithmic thinking in music, or how technological advances and human creativity are constantly reshaping the contours of musical expression.
> Free admission
18h00 | EPFL Pavilions A
Vernissage de deux expositions: Aetherocohedron & el.ba
The CDH artist-in-residence program Enter the Hyper-Scientific is pleased to announce the joint opening of exhibitions of works resulting from intensive collaborations between resident artists Josua Putzke and Alison Martin, and EPFL’s Geometric Computing Laboratory directed by Prof. Mark Pauly.
> Free admission
Organisation: CDH-Culture
Contact: Véronique Mauron