Scott Longfellow

Et si certaines pratiques magiques contemporaines — magnétisme, transe, eaux miraculeuses — attestaient d’une transformation de notre rapport au monde ? Je me réjouis de modérer cette discussion dans le cadre du Festival Histoire et Cité @histoirecite , avec @fannycharrasse , autrice de Le retour du monde magique, et @ribon.felipe , avec qui @mudaclausanne a développé le projet Retour aux sources, qui explore comment le design peut accompagner les usages liés aux sources miraculeuses suisses. Une discussion pour interroger la portée politique et écologique des pratiques magiques contemporaines — et aussi une premier teaser de l’exposition Rencontrologie, design pour des mondes magiques qui ouvrira en novembre au mudac. 🗓️ Samedi 21 mars — 14h - auditoire du @mcbalausanne @plateforme_10 🎟️ Entrée libre Crédit : Felipe Ribon, Saint Moritz, Fortune Well, 2024 Mobile en verre borosilicaté réalisé par Jean Michel Wierniezky, collection du mudac. Plus d’informations : https://histoire-cite.ch/programme/les-pratiques-magiques-leviers-politiques-et-ecologiques

Introducing CRYOFLORE | On Cyber-Gardening the City. A living, bio-digital landscape grown from microbial gel, AI and environmental data. Cryflore is not a representation of nature — it is a catalytic cell within the urban ecosystem. Evolving from our research on BI0.SERIE, where algae-based biopolymers host microbiomes at the scale of the body, Cryflore expands the same living matter into the urban dimension. A regenerative surface. A solar-reactive interface. A new model for post-anthropocentric design. Now on view at SOLEIL·S – Solar Biennale #2, Mudac, Lausanne 21 March – 21 September 2025 — Designed by ecoLogicStudio with the Synthetic Landscape Lab at Innsbruck University photos Xiao Wang at The Synthetic Landscape Lab at Innsbruck University #Cryflore #CatalyticCell #CyberGardening #LivingArchitecture #ecoLogicStudio #BI0SERIE #Biodesign #AIUrbanism #MicrobialDesign #Mudac #SolarBiennale #DesignFutures #PostAnthropocene #AlgaeMaterials

🌿 What if cities could bloom with energy, not just plants? CryoflorE is a working prototype for cyber-gardening the urban landscape. Created by @ecoLogicStudio in collaboration with the Synthetic Landscape Lab at Innsbruck University, this living installation at @mudaclausanne for the #SolarBiennale reimagines how cities grow, power, and purify themselves — using bio-catalytic cells, photosynthetic bacteria, and sunlight itself. ☀️🔋 Watch as the soft current of electrons, born from cyanobacteria, flows through a new kind of infrastructure: alive, adaptive, and green. 🗓️ On view until September 21st, the Autumn Equinox. 🌱 Cultivation as an act of culturalisation. #CryoflorE #BioDesign #AlgaeArchitecture #SolarDesign #EcoLogicStudio #FutureCities #UrbanBiotech #SoleilS2025 photos @brielle_xiao_wang @syntheticlandscapelab

🌏 KEEP IT FLAT 🌏 Retour en images sur la 2de exposition AGORA DU DESIGN au @mudaclausanne à l’automne 2023 dans le cadre de la saison « Space in the Place ». 🪐 Le thème : les relations complexes entre le cosmos et notre planète. Ou comment tenter d’échapper à une vision manichéenne, généralement à l’œuvre dans l’inconscient collectif, à travers le décryptage des mécanismes sous-jacents qui fondent la théorie de la Terre plate. 🥇 Les lauréats 2021 Emma Pflierger & Antoine Foeglé @pfliegerfoegle ont présenté une installation sous forme de diorama : « Keep It Flat » revient sur l’émergence de la théorie de la Terre plate du milieu du XIXe siècle et présente au public les principaux objets, éléments et surtout leurs enchaînements, utilisés comme pièces à conviction de cette théorie. 📖 Une publication du même nom a été créée pour l’occasion. « Petite histoire sur la Terre plate » croise les regards de la théoricienne du design @alexandramidal , du neuroscientifique @albert.moukheiber , des deux designers Antoine Fœglé et Emma Pflieger et des commissaires de l’exposition Terra Jolanthe Kugler et @scott_longfellow . #design #agoradudesign #exposition #expoagora #exhibition #mudaclausanne #lausanne #designer #bourseagora #designresearch #designstudies #frenchdesign

De l’équinoxe de printemps à l’équinoxe d’automne, le mudac vous invite à prendre un grand bain de soleil ☀️   "En tant que commissaires d’exposition, nous avons voulu mettre en évidence la façon dont le design solaire va au-delà de l’innovation énergétique, en nous incitant à repenser notre relation avec la santé, la politique, l’urbanisme et l’inclusivité." @scott_longfellow et @rafaelsantianez   Manifeste SOLEIL·S 1 - Nourrissons-nous de la vie (soleil) et non de la mort (fossile) 2 - Accordons-nous, chacun.e une place au soleil 3 - Dansons la ritournelle, car, quoi qu’il en soit, nous tournons autour… ___ From the spring equinox to the autumn equinox, mudac invites you to soak up the sun.   "As curators, we aimed to highlight how solar design goes beyond energy innovation, challenging us to rethink our relationship with health, politics, urbanism, and inclusivity."   Manifesto SOLEIL·S 1 - Let us nourish ourselves with life (sun) and not with death (fossils) 2 - Let us each find our place under the sun 3 - Let us dance the refrain, for whatever happens we revolve around it …    SOLEIL·S | SOLAR BIENNALE 2 21.03.2025 - 21.09.2025 #mudaclausanne #vernissage #opening #mudacSolarBiennale #TheSolarBiennale @the_solar_movement @marjanvanaubel @paulinevandongen @miroir.miroir @archizoomepfl @enterthehyperscientific @epflpavilions

Oh Sun ! SAVE THE DATE. We’re so excited to announce the 3 days opening of the next @thesolarbiennale that @villelausanne @etat_de_vaud @plateforme_10 @mudaclausanne will host from one equinox to another. New commissions to @_solar_lab @commonaccounts @ecologicstudio @vrmtvrmt @rocioberenguerroldan @alicebucknell @we_are_takk @ala_roushan @floating.point.studio and recent projects from @liam_y @marjanvanaubel @paulinevandongen @nathanaelabeille @art_and_energy @mischertraxler.studio @nicky_assmann and student project @ecal_design @headspaceandcomm @zhdk_design #solarprotocol Please come and join us to discover exciting projects at @mudaclausanne , @enterthehyperscientific and @archizoomepfl . Curation @rafaelsantianez and @scott_longfellow set design @we_are_takk @mac.magco graphic design @adelinemollard

ARCHIVIVES What if archives were to become generative, enabling mudac to project itself into the future and imagine potential future contributions? 
While today’s archives are mainly made up of physical artefacts and static media, the creative studio @oio.studio , composed of @fishandchipsing and @matlo , has come up with a way of bringing the archives to life. They came up with 2 curator bots. Le Curieux is an interviewer. An AI that listens, looks, scans the archives of the French Swiss designers and asks questions. The Dreamer dreams of future exhibitions. It creates a separate, evolving artificial intelligence model for each designer. These AI models are not only databases that store dynamic information, they also have the ability to generate unique images and texts : creating curatorial approaches and imaginary posters for monographic exhibitions that the museum might put on in the future. The result is a reservoir of infinite possibilities, the speculative programming of a department of the Archives du Design Romand that mudac is working towards. 
The project we are launching is part of archives du design romand a project of @mudaclausanne headed by @miroir.miroir and @dianemaech and the result of 
a year-long residency that I curated during which oio immersed itself in the workings and vision of @mudaclausanne and the wider landscape of Frenchspeaking Switzerland by interviewing over 20 local  designers,brands, archivists, and technology experts. Thank to all the people that made this project possible amd took part@in it! @adrienroverostudio @christopheguberan @fragment.in @biggamedesign @pantertourron @ligiadias_official @dimitri_baehler @lauregremion @frederic_dedelley @bertillelaguet @fabienroystudio @multiple_global_design @atelier_oi @beabiyue @dianemaech

In Basel, since the Middle Ages, the Tanners’ Fountain, located at Gerberberglein, has been the subject of an enchanting legend. At the heart of this story is a formidable basilisk, one of the most feared of all mythological beasts, half-rooster and half-serpent, residing in a hidden grotto at the bottom of the spring. Despite the threat it posed with its deadly stare and venom, the basilisk was visually striking, adorned with iridescent patterns. According to alchemists, it even held the secret of transmutation of the elements. The story goes that one day, a daring craftsman discovered the creature’s lair and, armed only with a mirror, managed to direct the basilisk’s lethal gaze back upon itself, causing its destruction. To prevent any resurgence, the beast’s remains were walled up behind the fountain. Since then, imbued with the basilisk’s essence, the water of this fountain has been renowned for its miraculous properties. Fact, according to Basel’s historical records, in 1474 , a rooster was accused of laying an egg. This unnatural act caused deep concern among the inhabitants, fearing that a basilisk, reputed to hatch from such an egg, might threaten the city again. To prevent this calamity, the animal was sentenced to death by decapitation. The incriminated egg was also destroyed by fire. part of the research that inspired Back to the source , when design celebrates miraculous swiss springs a project commissioned by the @mudaclausanne curated by @scott_longfellow @prohelvetia_design @aboutswitzerland @plateforme_10 #DesignSwitzerland #MDW2024 #fuorisalone #mudaclausanne #handcraft #backtothesource #felipeRibon #miraculous #swiss #springs #basilisc #bale #mirrormirror

Where the magic happens: a throwback to the making of ‘Back to the Source,’ when design celebrates miraculous Swiss springs at the workshop of the marvelous silversmith @marischaelorfevre . A project commissioned by the @mudaclausanne curated by @scott_longfellow @prohelvetia_design @aboutswitzerland @plateforme_10 #DesignSwitzerland #MDW2024 #fuorisalone #mudaclausanne #handcraft #backtothesource #feliperibon #silver #copper @leslaureats_ #miraculous #swiss #springs

The Swiss Jura is famous for its karstic landscape, characterized by porous and sedimentary rock formations. This type of terrain encourages the formation of caves and gorges, often enveloped in legends and superstitions. A notable example is found in the commune of Haute-Sorne in Undervelier, where a marvelous cave of approximately 20 meters wide, is known for its miraculous water source dedicated to St-Colombe, a Spanish martyr beheaded in the 3rd century. The narrative pattern of cephalophoric saints is a recurring motif in christianity faith, featuring distinctive elements such as crossing a river, ascending a hill, washing the head in a fountain, and marking a stone with the saint’s blood. These stories have contributed to the sanctification of places associated with them, transforming them into objects of devotion capable of performing miracles. This is the case with the cave in Undervelier, where the presence of messages and commemorative plaques on its walls testify to the miracles performed. Recognized as a major Catholic pilgrimage site since the 13th century, a mass is held here each year on the occasion of the Assumption, where the faithful bathe in the spring while praying for their healing. part of the research that inspired Back to the source , when design celebrates miraculous swiss springs a project commissioned by the @mudaclausanne curated by @scott_longfellow @prohelvetia_design @aboutswitzerland @plateforme_10 #DesignSwitzerland #MDW2024 #fuorisalone #mudaclausanne #handcraft #backtothesource #felipeRibon #miraculous #swiss #springs #undervielier #sainte #colombe

LITUUS FONTAINE Object of communication, this writing tool is formed by a long tube of ribbed borosilicate glass, surmounted at its upper end with a small oval container designed to accommodate telluric objects. Suspended, this device functions like a reservoir, where pour water first interacts with the minerals before descending vertically along the conduit. During this process it undergoes a symbolic metamorphosis, becoming invisible ink capable of transmitting intimate affirmations. While the water breaks free through the small lower opening, the recipient is invited to wield the object to convey a message. part of the installation of the “message well” presented at Back to the source , when design celebrates miraculous swiss springs a project commissioned by the @mudaclausanne curated by @scott_longfellow @prohelvetia_design @aboutswitzerland @plateforme_10 #DesignSwitzerland #MDW2024 #fuorisalone @panettimarmi @jeanmichel_wierniezky #mudaclausanne #handcraft #glass #message #well #lituus #backtothesource # #feliperibon #miraculous #swiss #springs

At an altitude of 1856 meters in the valley of Engadine in the Grisons canton, the site of Saint-Moritz holds historical significance due to the discovery of a Bronze Age spring capture system, one of the oldest prehistoric alpine engineering finds ever uncovered. Excavations revealed various high-value symbolic metal objects like swords, needles, and rings, which were votive offerings left as pledges for health, prosperity, or good fortune. These artifacts hint at the existence of a protective cult dedicated to the spring deity, believed to have the power to foresee the future, emphasizing the site’s sacred nature. Due to the composition of the land, the waters of this area are particularly known for their various red springs, rich in ferruginous minerals and slightly acidic. These springs have been esteemed since the Middle Ages, notably under Pope Leo X, and were later popularized by Paracelsus, a Swiss physician and alchemist of the Renaissance. He highlighted the spring’s potential for treating skin conditions, reducing inflammation, and improving digestive health, suggesting that regular use could enhance longevity. His work laid the foundation for balneotherapy and the widespread appreciation of mineral springs in European health resorts. part of the research that inspired Back to the source , when design celebrates miraculous swiss springs a project commissioned by the @mudaclausanne curated by @scott_longfellow @prohelvetia_design @aboutswitzerland @plateforme_10 #DesignSwitzerland #MDW2024 #fuorisalone #mudaclausanne #handcraft #backtothesource #felipeRibon #miraculous #swiss #springs #stmoritz #paracelsus #engandine #ascona #oracle #scuol