The current exhibition at the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne examines the question of counter-culture in Swiss visual arts and photography, from the 1950s to the present. The curators, Daniel Girardin and Sam Stourdzé, respond to the question through the work of twenty-five photographers, filmmakers and video artists.

According to them, “The counter-culture of the 1960s challenged traditional values in private and public life; it redesigned cultural and political boundaries, from projects of empowerment to sexual liberation, from realism to utopia, from the possible to the impossible.”

We see all the predominant themes of the era, from a solid liberal economy to its dissolution in a globalized world. We see a self-mocking Swiss version of the Hell’s Angels photographed by Karlheinz Weinberger, and the political utopia of Luc Chessex, who left Switzerland for Cuba in the 1960s. The curators have also brought together 32 car accident photographs by Arnold Odermatt, police photographer of the Nidwald region, presented by Harald Szeman at the Venice Bienniale in 2001.

The exhibition is separated into three thematic sections. “Culture et comportement” explores the different behaviors, politics and religions through photographs, films and videos by Karlheinz Weinberger, Yann Gross, Luc Chessex, Gianni Motti, Arnold Odermatt, Francis Reusser, Nicolas Savary & Tilo Steireif, Emmanuelle Antille and Christian Lutz.

The second section, “Humour, ironie et décalage” contains collections of photographs, collages and projections by Claude Baechtold, Andri Pol, Plonk & Replonk et Nicolas Crispini.

The third section offers a critical vision of the notion of identity in Switzerland, using typically Swiss subjects: countrysides, railroads, armies, post offices... visions that we rediscover in the works of Léo Fabrizio, Christian Schwager, Jean-Luc Cramatte, Matthieu Gafsou, Jules Spinatsch and Martin Stollenwerk. There is also a selection of 19th century photographs from the museum’s permanent collection, featuring work by Fred Boissonnas, Adolphe Braun and Francis Frith.

Bernard Perrine
Bernard.Perrine1@orange.fr

[Contre]Culture/CH
Until January 29, 2012

Musée de l'Élysée
18 avenue de l'Élysée
CH 1014 Lausanne
+ 41 21 316 99 11
11-18h
Tuesday - Sunday