VEVEY.- Ten editions and eighteen years on, Switzerland's visual arts biennial Images Vevey places its anniversary under the sign of family, borrowing its title from the Sister Sledge hit.
From 5 to 27 September, some fifty tailor-made photographic installations — all free of charge — turn Vevey into a city of images. Highlights include a monumental 1000 m portrait of Grace Jones by Anoush Abrar, JR's photo booth truck during the opening weekend, the first-ever public opening of the Chteau de l'Aile gardens, and Richard Billingham's Ray's a Laugh thirty years on, marking the bicentenary of photography.
For its 10th edition, the Biennale Images Vevey explores the notion of family in a broad, living, contemporary and at times deliberately unexpected sense. Nuclear, blended, chosen families or families bound by shared values: as many contemporary ways of understanding a term that is alive and manifold. The 50 projects on show take on family albums, the absent father, siblings, the ups and downs of couples, births and bereavements, endogamy, sisterhood, generations and the passing of time — as well as the subjects that both unite and divide, such as football or the thorny question of how to organise the family fridge.
This 10th edition is above all an opportunity to celebrate a series of anniversaries together: the bicentenary of photography, sixty years of the Montreux Jazz Festival, thirty years of Richard Billingham's legendary Ray's a Laugh, fifteen years of JR's Inside Out project and its 600,000 portraits, and twenty years of the cult film devoted to Zindine Zidane by Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno — to name only a few.
Part of the programme is devoted to figures who have marked previous editions and have become godmothers and godfathers of the event: Martin Parr, Cristina De Middel, JR, Deanna Dikeman and Matthias Brunner. They stand for the 503 artists who make up the Images Vevey family. Alongside them are newcomers including Rineke Dijkstra, Carlos Amorales, Tokuko Ushioda, Vik Muniz, Charlie Engman, Lucia Koch, Mark Wallinger, Annelies Štrba, Cedric Zellweger, Luisa Drr and Ange Leccia. In all, 50 projects by artists from 20 countries make up this 10th edition.
GRAND PRIX IMAGES VEVEY 2025 / 2026
Support for new work lies at the heart of the Images Vevey ecosystem: the Grand Prix Images Vevey presents the work of its six winners and honourable mentions at Muse Jenisch, while the Prix Images Vevey x ECAL is shown at the Swiss Camera Museum.
NILE RODGERS, GRACE JONES, ELON MUSK, BRAD PITT ET D'AUTRES STARS!
Nile Rodgers, co-writer of We Are Family! — 400 million streams on Spotify, performed by the four Sledge sisters — sets the tone for an edition celebrating everyone who has followed Images Vevey since it began in 2008. He appears here in a portrait by Anoush Abrar, official photographer of the Montreux Jazz Festival, alongside the largest installation of this edition: a 1000 m image of his friend Grace Jones on the faade of the Nestl headquarters, a company founded in Vevey 160 years ago. Across the series on show, visitors will encounter other public figures, from Elon Musk and JD Vance to Zindine Zidane and Brad Pitt.
THE CHTEAU DE L'AILE, EPICENTER OF THIS EDITION
For three weeks, the gardens and main apartment of Chteau de l'Aile open to the public. What could be more fitting, for such a theme, than this residence transformed in the 19th century by a Vevey family? Listed as a cantonal heritage site and still in family hands, the building hosts exhibitions, a bar, DJ sets and events throughout the Biennale.
BOOKS + RACLETTE = BOOKLETTE
Images Vevey and Photo Elyse join forces for the 5th edition of Booklette, the photobook fair created by Images Vevey in 2022. More than 50 Swiss and international publishers present their catalogues. The equation is as simple as it is convivial: Books + Raclette = Booklette. The fair alternates between cities — Vevey in even years, Lausanne in odd ones.
THREE WEEKS WHERE IMAGES AND CELEBRATION MEET
A rich programme of events unfolds alongside the exhibitions: concerts, creative workshops, storytelling cafs, skateboarding sessions, screenings, shows and performances punctuate the Biennale. Every Sunday, the Montreux Jazz Festival takes over the Nestl gardens for free DJ sets. On Fridays and Saturdays, the Chteau de l'Aile evenings take over: Fuzzy live, with Daddy Fred and Ghiaccioli & Branzini on the decks.
