The Second Solar Biennale - SOLEIL·S at Mudac
Exhibition Explores How Design Can Accelerate the Adoption of Solar Innovations and Rethink Material Culture
Cynthia%20Ammann_08.jpg)
21 March - 21 September 2025
mudac, Plateforme 10, Lausanne, Switzerland
The Solar Movement is excited to share details on the second edition of the Solar Biennale, which will take place from the spring equinox to the autumn equinox of 2025 (March 21 - September 21). This landmark edition is curated and hosted by mudac, the Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts, in Lausanne, Switzerland. Through its curatorial expertise, mudac is shaping Soleil·s, a major exhibition that explores how design can drive the adoption of solar innovations and reimagine material culture.
As the Solar Biennale continues to redefine our relationship with solar energy, Soleil·s offers an immersive and dynamic program across Plateforme 10 and the EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) campus. It invites visitors to explore the profound social, political, and aesthetic dimensions of solar power through cutting-edge design, art, and research.
The exhibition is structured around three core themes that shape our solar future. The first, energy, explores new material possibilities and the role of design in accelerating solar adoption. The second area of inquiry, politics, investigates the sociopolitical implications of a solar transition and challenging extractive energy models. And the third area, popular culture, showcases how solar aesthetics and storytelling shape public perception and behavior.
“Soleil·s explores the symbolic and transformative potential of the sun, inspired by the vision of the Solar Biennale. Solar design is more than an energy solution—it challenges us to rethink our relationship with health, politics, urbanism, and inclusivity. This exhibition is a call to embrace solar-powered futures that are ecosexy, innovative, and inclusive,” noted the exhibition's curators Rafaël Santianez and Scott Longfellow.
A major highlight of this edition is the commissioning of eight new projects, each pushing the boundaries of solar design, storytelling, and material innovation. These projects come from some of the most forward-thinking studios and creators working today, including:
- EcoLogic Studio – Biocatalytic Furniture: This biodigital project utilizes cyanobacteria’s photosynthesis to generate sustainable bio-electricity within a translucent canopy structure. By capturing energy through biocatalysis, the installation demonstrates a future where living systems power environmental sensors and LED lighting.
- Alice Bucknell – A Parliament for Heliotechnics: Through speculative fiction and AI-driven world-building, Bucknell’s project explores the geopolitical and ethical implications of solar geoengineering. The work includes an immersive video and interactive component examining planetary governance and the consequences of stratospheric aerosol injection.
- Rocio Berenguer – The Bad Weeds: Rocio Berenguer creates trans-species worlds where human, plant, and technological boundaries blur, questioning traditional distinctions through inclusive narratives. Her latest project, The Bad Weeds, is a hip-hop group composed of part-human, part-plant characters exploring alternative, non-anthropocentric futures.
- Studio Joanie Lemercier – Solar Lab: In response to the environmental impact of fossil fuels, Studio Joanie Lemercier develops low-tech, solar-powered visual creation tools. Their Solar Lab project features robotic solar reflectors designed for artistic experimentation and will be shared as open-source technology.
- Common Accounts – The Accursed Sun: This performative installation reimagines the sun as a cosmic battery, offering aesthetic and therapeutic services such as cell regeneration and sterilization. Inspired by Russian cosmism and Georges Bataille, the project critiques society’s energy consumption while envisioning a future of solar-powered well-being.
- Floating Points & Co – Swiss, Frugal, and Sober: Commissioned to create a video game about energy transition, Floating Points & Co. confronts players with behavioral taboos around consumption and sustainability. The game integrates perspectives from economic, political, and civic stakeholders to highlight the role of individual action in energy reform.
- Vraiment Vraiment – Le Droit au Jour: In collaboration with EPFL’s LIPID department, this project questions how social and economic structures could evolve to restore human synchronization with natural light. Through speculative policy design, it advocates for a “right to daylight” as a public health and environmental priority.
Beyond the newly commissioned works, Soleil·s integrates a selection of recent projects by world-renowned artists, designers, and collectives, including Ólafur Elíasson, Liam Young, Andreas Gursky, DISNOVATION.ORG, and academic institutions such as EPFL, HEAD, and ECAL. These works deepen the exhibition’s discourse, connecting contemporary design practices with global solar movements and historical perspectives on energy culture.
"We are thrilled to entrust the second edition of the Solar Biennale to mudac, a leading institution at the intersection of design and critical thinking. The Solar Movement is meant to span the world, connecting all people and disciplines, and it is inspiring to see how a new context and team approach it. Each edition offers fresh perspectives, new voices, and unexpected themes that expand our collective imagination of a solar future. We look forward to witnessing how mudac’s vision shapes this next chapter, bringing new energy and insight to the movement,” noted Marjan van Aubel and Pauline van Dongen, founders of The Solar Movement.
As a key initiative of the Solar Biennale, Soleil·s is designed as a participatory platform that encourages collective engagement. Highlights include hands-on workshops and interactive installations that connect visitors with solar technologies, a solarpunk short story collection reimagining futures shaped by solar innovation, special exhibitions at EPFL’s Archizoom focusing on solar-driven architecture, and artist films at EPFL Pavilions exploring the sun’s role in cinematic storytelling.
By showcasing design’s power to accelerate change, Soleil·s invites professionals and the public alike to envision a world where solar energy shapes culture, materials, and daily life. Join us in redefining solar futures.
ABOUT MUDAC
The mudac (Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts) is a Swiss institution dedicated to global and contemporary design, located in the Plateforme 10 arts district in Lausanne. Known for its bold exhibitions and commitment to applied research, the museum acts as a laboratory where scientific methods and creativity converge to address pressing societal topics.
Housed in an iconic building designed by the Aires Mateus studio, mudac highlights the transformative potential of designers through exhibitions, public programs, and research projects spanning applied arts, product design, architecture, and urban planning. Its mission is to explore desirable futures, making design accessible and relevant to all.
As a key part of Plateforme 10, mudac collaborates actively with neighboring institutions like the Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts (MCBA) and Photo Elysée, bridging traditional artistic disciplines. With a dynamic program of events and partnerships with designers, historians, and researchers, the museum offers innovative narratives on a local and international scale, inviting visitors to discover how design can boldly shape the contemporary world.
ABOUT THE SOLAR MOVEMENT
The Solar Movement is a groundbreaking initiative dedicated to making solar energy the default source of power by combining innovative design, technology, and advocacy. Founded by visionary solar designers Marjan van Aubel and Pauline van Dongen, in collaboration with strategist Pallas Agterberg, the movement envisions a future where solar energy seamlessly integrates into our lives, fostering sustainability, equity, and joy.
The aim of the Solar Movement is to establish solar design as a recognized design driver worldwide – deviating from the dominant, technical approach to solar that has long ignored the key cultural aspects of a solar centric movement. The Movement proposes a way of life that revolves around the sun and creating meaningful, lasting change guided by three principles:
- Design-Driven Innovation: A belief in harnessing the power of design and technology to create solar solutions that are not only functional, but also beautiful and sustainable.
- Contextual Inspiration and Universal Applicability: A commitment to developing site-specific solar designs that is responsive to and inspired by local context, while ensuring the potential of solar energy is accessible and beneficial for everyone, everywhere.
- Generative and Positive Transformation: A mission to leverage solar’s abundance to create a self-sustaining cycle of energy while uplifting lives through its transformative and joyful potential.
The Solar Movement is best known for The Solar Biennale, a landmark event celebrating solar design and innovation. Its first edition in Rotterdam was presented in collaboration with Nieuwe Instituut and Dutch Design Week in 2022 and sparked global dialogue on solar energy’s potential. An upcoming edition in March 2025 at mudac (Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts) in Lausanne, Switzerland promises to further illuminate solar’s role in shaping our present world and a sustainable future.
As an advocacy organization, the Solar Movement invites individuals and organizations who align with its principles to sign its manifesto and join the mission. By spreading the message and committing to solar solutions, supporters become part of a growing community dedicated to creating a brighter, more equitable world—powered by the sun. Always sunny side up.
thesolarmovement.org / @the_solar_movement
ABOUT EPFL AND ARCHIZOOM
Initiated by the EPFL College of Humanities (CDH), amplified by EPFL Pavilions, and in partnership with the City of Lausanne, the EPFL-CDH Artist-in-Residence (AiR) Program “Enter the Hyper-Scientific” fosters transdisciplinary encounters and collaborations between artists and EPFL’s scientific community. The program invites international artists, for three-month residencies to realize innovative and visionary projects at the intersection of art, science, advanced technologies, and the humanities.
EPFL hosts Archizoom, a cultural platform that offers a unique exploration of contemporary architecture. Centered on research and innovation, its program of exhibitions and conferences confronts theory and public experience to forge together a sensitive and critical view of our built culture. The platform fosters a constant dialogue between professionals, academics and the general public.