Curtain up on Plateforme 10, Lausanne's new museum complex

The Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts (mcb-a) opened its doors to the
public on 5 October 2019. This marked the inauguration of the new arts
district where the photography museum (Elysée) and the Museum of
Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (Mudac) will join the mcb-a in
2021.

This is the largest cultural project in the Canton of Vaud for many decades: in 2021, Plateforme 10 – a stone’s throw from the rail station – will bring together three Lausanne cultural institutions that previously occupied
their own sites: the Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts (mcb-a), the Musée de l’Elysée, a photography museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (Mudac). The Toms Pauli and Félix Vallotton Foundations will also be housed on the site. With an area of 25,000 m2, Plateforme 10 primarily aims to arouse curiosity among the public by offering a venue for dialogue, discovery and amazement. The new facilities will give the institutions better opportunities to showcase their collections. The permanent exhibitions will have free access. In parallel, the museums will also propose
regular temporary exhibits (with an entrance fee) that will attract a wide and varied audience. There is no doubt that this site will quickly become a must-see for visitors to Lausanne as well as for its residents.
Plateforme 10 is opening in three stages, the first of which took place at the start of October 2019. Following the official inauguration days, the mcb-a has welcomed the public since 5 October with a first special exhibition, titled “Atlas. A Cartography of Donations”. On display until 12 January 2020, it
presents a mix of recent and older donations on an area of 3,200 m2. This
exceptional presentation is conceived as a kind of atlas of the institution’s collections, currently comprising some 10,000 works. It establishes a dialogue between different eras and formal approaches, with works from major contemporary artists ranging from Pierre Soulages and Anselm Kiefer to
Giuseppe Penone and Anish Kapoor. On the mcb-a’s walls, their works mingle with those of Zao Wou-Ki and Rodin as well as renowned Swiss artists such as Paul Klee, Balthus, Félix Vallotton and Louis Soutter. In addition to museum facilities, Plateforme 10 will be spanned by a walkway that forms part of a larger project to create a “green” link between Lausanne’s eastern and western sides. From spring 2021 onwards, visitors approaching this 250-meter ramp will be invited to embark on an educational trail designed by the Cantonal Botanical Museum and Gardens (MJBC). The route will feature
urban vegetation and its rich biodiversity, focusing on the key issue of greenery in city environments. The trail, already known as the “fourth museum”of Plateforme 10, will be an outstanding showcase for the MJBC’s activities. Anyone wishing to know more about the plant world is invited to visit the Botanical Museum, less than 10 minutes’ walk away.