LAUSANNE.- The Plateforme 10 Foundation, which brings together three Vaud cantonal museums on the site of the new Quartier des Arts in Lausanne, announced the appointment of Nathalie Herschdorfer as the new director of Photo Elys閑, Mus閑 Cantonal pour la Photographie.

Nathalie Herschdorfer is a curator, art historian and photo historian, and currently directs the Mus閑 des Beaux-Arts in Le Locle, Switzerland, whose reputation she has steadily increased since taking up her post in 2014. Her appointment as director of Photo Elys閑 marks a return to her roots for the Lausanne native, having already worked for the museum for over ten years as curator and exhibition director (from 1998 to 2010).

Nathalie Herschdorfer convinced the selection jury with her in depth knowledge of photography and her experience in museum management as well as her national and international cultural network. Her strategic thinking, as well as her ideas for the further development of Photo Elys閑 in close cooperation with all teams of Plateforme 10 particularly convinced the commission. She will take up her post on 1 June 2022.

A broad range of international candidates

The decision to appoint Nathalie Herschdorfer, announced by the General Director of the Plateforme 10 Foundation, Mr Patrick Gyger, was taken on the recommendation of the hiring committee convened for the occasion.

The committee consisted of nine people: two members of the Plateforme 10 Board of Directors, three members of the Plateforme 10 Foundation Board, a representative of the Cultural Office of the Canton of Vaud, a member of the Foundation Board of the Fondation de l'Elys閑 and two external experts from the world of museums and photography.

An exceptional career

Nathalie Herschdorfer is an art and photography historian and curator. In her role as director of the Mus閑 des Beaux-Arts in Le Locle (www.mbal.ch), she has curated more than 50 special exhibitions bringing together artists from Switzerland and abroad of all generations and backgrounds, including Louise Bourgeois, Stanley Kubrick, Georg Baselitz, Sol Lewitt, Andy Warhol, Alex Prager, Viviane Sassen, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Vik Muniz, Todd Hido, Garry Winogrand and Henri Cartier-Bresson. Within eight years, Nathalie Herschdorfer has brought the MBAL to the forefront of art museums in Switzerland.

She is also the artistic director of the Alt.+1000 festival, dedicated to contemporary photography, and manages several exhibition projects at international level in parallel. In 2021, she has been curating the Elles x Paris Photo programme dedicated to women artists for the Paris Photo fair. Being very active in contemporary photography and closely following its topicality, she regularly appears on an international level as a curator and speaker. She has organised exhibitions in various European countries, China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Mexico and the USA. She also teaches at ECAL in Lausanne and is the author of several books on Photography. In 2015, she published an important encyclopaedia of photography, which gathers more than 1200 entries.

"Photo Elys閑 is one of the most prestigious museums in the world of photography. I am delighted to return to the museum and take over its management as it opens a new chapter in its history. From now on, photography will no longer be isolated, but will interact with other arts. Within this new dynamic cultural center for Lausanne and its region, Photo Elys閑 will experience unprecedented development. This is a great challenge to be met. With the new building that Photo Elys閑 shares with the mudac, and with its close proximity to the Mus閑 Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, it will represent a new generation of cultural institutions - a 21st century museum open to all. I look forward to joining Plateforme 10 and its teams, building a strong programme for Photo Elys閑 and championing the vibrancy of Lausanne's arts district." --Nathalie Herschdorfer