Art galleries exhibition spaces foundations and cultural centers Lausanne

The Alice Pauli Gallery is the oldest and undoubtedly the best known in Lausanne. Established in the Flon since 1962, Alice Pauli has exhibited Bissier, Tobey, Dubuffet and Vieira da Silva, to whom have been added in recent years Soulages, Penone, Plensa or Anne and Patrick Poirier, and the Swiss artists Jean Lecoultre, Yves Dana, Gaspard Delachaux, Catherine Bolle or Fabienne Verdier

The art centre Circuit is an artistic institution created and managed by artists through the eponymous association.

This contemporary art gallery was founded in 1998 by former students of the Ecole cantonale d'art de Lausanne (ECAL) with the aim of bringing together young Swiss and foreign artists. Circuit has since become a kind of independent art and publishing mini-centre dedicated to contemporary art, with a space for meeting and dialogue open to various artistic practices (painting, sculpture, music, performance, cinema).

The Ecole cantonale d'art de Lausanne (ECAL), an advanced art and design school specializing in training in visual arts, film, photography, graphic and industrial design, is equipped with the Espace lausannois d'art contemporain, a gallery showcasing the contemporary art creations of professors and guests. Students' work can be seen in editions, photographs, typography, paintings, interactive installations, films and design objects.

The lithographic printer Raynald Métraux set up his workshop in 1991 in a former factory in Le Flon. Since then, he has received numerous distinctions as a "craftsman of art". In addition to this, he has also turned it into a gallery where he presents temporary exhibitions, mainly of works on paper, and where one can permanently discover prints, portfolios and edited artists' books. Raynald Métraux also offers various workshops.

The Flon warehouses district is currently very popular with Lausanne's various cultural circles and real estate developers, and contrasts sharply with the medieval city.

In the ^19th century, goods arrived from the port of Ouchy or from the railway station. Businessman Jean-Jacques Mercier facilitated traffic by digging the metro. Goods were deposited on rails and taken up the Bel-Air elevator (which today leads to the Fnac) to continue westwards to the Chauderon station. Traffic ceased in 1974, and the former warehouses were taken over by culture, before becoming objects of covetousness for major groups. Today, the ^19th-century Flon buildings that have survived include the N2O bar and the Butterfly store. For the Mercier family, incorporated as LO Holding, Flon has long been a hole in the ground. In several former warehouses, the cellars are magnificent and still undeveloped. Enter, for example, the former customs warehouse at no. 17 (opposite Maniak): first you'll see a large glass roof and, in the basement, a vast space under arches that serves simply as a storeroom for the ground-floor stores.

From the Flon, you can see the recently renovated Métropole Lausanne shopping center building just above, as well as the Bel-Air tower, Switzerland's first "skyscraper", which appears here much longer than it is high. You can also see the Maison du peuple, sometimes humorously referred to as the "Kremlin". It houses the headquarters of the Socialist Party and the People's Workers' Party.

Today, in addition to art galleries, the Flon district is home to the well-known MAD and Atelier volant nightclubs (opened in the 1980s), trendy bars like Pur and N2O, high-rent apartments and studios for photographers and architects, a jazz school, and a growing number of stores.

As a result, Flon has earned its letters of nobility, and many Lausanneers say that their city's new alternative center is now moving further west. Artists tend to move towards Sébeillon and Malley. The disused Sévelin train station has been transformed into a vocational school, and culture has taken over the former warehouses: the Docks, the Sévelin 36 dance school, the Arsenic theater. Further afield, in Malley, the Théâtre Kléber Méleau is located in the former gasworks.

In winter, a free skating rink is set up on the Flon.

Located in the heart of the Flon, the Abstract exhibits works by contemporary artists, but also new acquisitions from collectors. There are installations, paintings and photographs. The space is very sober and houses committed exhibitions, often inspired by an intimate, even intuitive inspiration. In addition to this, there is a shop in the gallery, where you can find, for example, the book Forever Young commemorating twenty years of Abstract.

Housed in a building with cylindrical architecture, we turn around a large pylon to discover experiments staged by the team of scientists and graphic designers. Aimed at young and old alike, the Espace des Inventions is a place for learning about science and technology, discovery and experimentation. Around a chosen scientific theme, a set of games and experiments to be manipulated is proposed to the curious hands, critical eyes and agile brains of visitors. Ideal for little budding sunflower teachers!