From the spring equinox to the autumn equinox of 2025, mudac will host the second Solar Biennale with the exhibition Soleil·s which will take place in the Plateforme 10 arts district and on the EPFL campus.

Launched in 2022 in the Neth­er­lands by design­ers Pauline van Dongen and Marjan van Aubel, the Solar Biennale provides a plat­form for reflec­tion on the chal­lenges of solar energy. For this second edition, mudac will broaden the theme by bring­ing together design­ers, curat­ors, activ­ists, and research­ers to explore expan­ded perspect­ives on how to approach ecolo­gical trans­ition.

Far from limit­ing itself to a single, socially construc­ted vision, Sun·s will address the symbolic, polit­ical, prac­tical, and aesthetic dimen­sions of solar energy.

Four main themes will be considered :

Energy revitalisation

How can design­ers help to speed up the energy trans­ition? Can they make solar tech­no­lo­gies more access­ible, aesthetic and func­tional, while rais­ing public aware­ness of climate change? Do they play a role in design­ing new solu­tions and new uses?

Material culture

How does the sun shape our bodies, our ideals of beauty, and our consumer habits? How has it trans­formed land­scapes into the social places we now frequent for sports, leis­ure and tour­ism?

Symbolic power

Whether an emblem of equal­ity in many utopias or a symbol of uncon­tested power, what does the sun repres­ent at a time when the ecolo­gical and polit­ical stakes are so high? Can it be a symbolic driver of new utopias for desir­able futures?

Circadian rhythms

What if we adap­ted our daily rhythms and our social spaces to the natural cycles of the sun, rein­vent­ing our rela­tion­ship with time accord­ing to age and season?

Recog­nising the multi­fa­ceted nature of the sun, mudac is collab­or­at­ing with insti­tu­tions such as HEAD, ECAL, ZHDK, and several EPFL entit­ies to foster the neces­sary inter­dis­cip­lin­ary approach. New commis­sions have been entrus­ted to design­ers, and a part­ner­ship with publish­ing house La Volte will result in the public­a­tion of a collec­tion of short stor­ies, Solar punk, celeb­rat­ing the power of fiction to imagine bright futures.

Bien­nale programme

The exhib­i­tion at mudac will present a fun-filled, multi-discip­lin­ary programme combin­ing install­a­tions, objects, films, innov­at­ive mater­i­als, immers­ive spaces and parti­cip­at­ory features, includ­ing many new creations. Soleil·s invites visit­ors to imagine, explore and dream of bright futures where energy, culture and innov­a­tion come together to meet contem­por­ary chal­lenges.

At the same time, several major events will be taking place at EPFL, includ­ing an exhib­i­tion at Archi­zoom, in connec­tion with archi­tec­ture, and an exhib­i­tion of projects from the Enter the Hyper Scientific programme at the EPFL Pavil­ions (Pavil­lon A), created by the artists in resid­ence Alice Buck­nell, Mattew Wilson and Emilia Tapprest.

A rich programme of events will run through­out the bien­nial. Here are a few key dates to remem­ber:

  • 19.03 – 21.03.2025: Opening days.

  • 19.03.202: Press trip.

  • 20.03.2025: Opening of the exhibition at mudac.

  • 21.06.2025: Solstice and Music Festival.

  • 06.09.2025: Sobriety day.