ECAL inaugurates its new Print Centre, 02.02.2017, ECAL, Renens

ECAL inaugurates its new Print Centre
02.02.2017
ECAL, Renens


Thanks to Canton of Vaud and to generous support from institutions in the region, ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne has inaugurated its new Print Centre at the heart of its campus in Renens, offering new state-of-the-art equipment to its students. These premises can be discovered during the ECAL Open Days 2017 on Friday 3 February (afternoon) and Saturday 4 February (all day).


ECAL is constantly rewriting the book. The spaces made available in June 2016 the ECAL building by the Ateliers de la Ville de Renens have served to establish a unique Print Centre dedicated to students, which brings together, over close to 900 sq.m, a printing press (offset press and binding equipment), plotters, inkjet and laser printers as well as screen printing, lithography and etching workshops. Transformed this summer, fitted out at the end of the year, and finally equipped with new machines, including a Heidelberg 5-colour offset press, these new premises are now fully operational.

But why develop a printing house and related techniques in an all-digital era? The main answer is the explanation of the acronym ECAL: Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne. The primary vocation of a SCHOOL is to teach know-how, to put fundamentals into practice, to encourage experiments and to provide skills in specific techniques. As such, a printing house is a great educational tool which is essential for a complete top-quality education. An art school without a quasi-professional printing house is not really an art school. The 600 ECAL students make this place their home to create or enhance their works. Graphic artists and photographers produce posters, magazines or books, industrial designers lay out portfolios, artists create editions, filmmakers print their posters.

From an institutional point of view, all ECAL exhibition invitations, as well as numerous books and catalogues, are printed in-house, thus promoting the students' achievements, but also highlighting the excellence of education in our Canton and region. Without a high-level printing facility on its premises, ECAL would not be what it is today - one of the world’s top schools of art and design.

And what would ART be without printing techniques and paper? Not much... No paintings, no books, no posters... Not to mention the contribution of techniques such as lithography, screen printing or etching, which are part of the history of art and which ECAL continues to develop, because this know-how allows widening the various media and promotes diversity in creativity.

ECAL would like to thank Canton of Vaud, without which this project could not have been completed, as well as the generous institutions whose support allowed the development of the Print Centre: Loterie Romande, Sandoz Family Foundation and Fondation Casino Barrière de Montreux, Fondation ECAL+

Informations
Dates and schedules

02.02.2017

Venue
ECAL, Renens
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Print Centre: offset press and binding equipment. Image ECAL/Younès Klouche
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Heidelberg 5-colour offset press. Image ECAL/Younès Klouche
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Print Centre: Letterpress. Image ECAL/Younès Klouche
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Lithography and etching workshops. Image ECAL/Younès Klouche
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Screen printing workshop. Image ECAL/Younès Klouche