In 2006, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) decided to undertake the crazy project of building an entire city in the middle of the desert. Masdar City’s first aim is to reach 0% CO2 emissions and be recognized as a “Green City”. London architectural firm Foster + partners designed this huge project, at a time of growing environmental concerns, especially about energy consumption and pollution. Despite holding a major share in global oil and gas production, the United Arab Emirates wish to change their image to showcase green technology and socalled clean energy. Located 25 km south from Abu Dhabi, Masdar City is destined to be within the next 15 years the first self-ecological city in the world, with a population of 50 000 and a business hub of 1 500. Currently, only a few buildings have already emerged from the sand, including a scientific university, research laboratories and offices of major multinational corporations such as Siemens. The country launched the Masdar project as part of an economic policy shift called Economic Vision 2030, based on renewable energy and a denser complex of research and developments. Following this trend, the government, in collaboration with UAE Oil Company, one of the world most influential one, have invested nearly $20 billion in the project. The real purpose of this commercial association is to establish the UAE as a pioneer in the renewable energy sector to complement its current status of “major oil exporter”. 


The City of Possibilities
edited by art&fiction
24 × 32 cm
144 p.

45CHF
ORDER

Signed artist edition (50 ex.)
20 × 25 cm
inkjet print

100CHF
ORDER

Year2015 Place

Masdar city, United Arab Emirates

Year

2016

Place

Observatoire de Paris, France

Client

Ecole nationale supérieur des Arts Décoratifs

Art direction

Rimasuu

Fashion designer

Elodie Le Prunennec
Loris Ronzeau
Christie Duhamel
Manon Martin

Model

Matthias El Koulali
Xavier Tozzi Fontana
Milla Natel
Serena Marques
Baptiste Verrey
Dasha Yourtchouk

Year

2018

Place

Basel, Switzerland

Client

Swiss Design Awards

Year

2015

Place

Renens, Switzerland

Glory Hole is a work in progress which brings together photography and video to present the Bois de Boulogne. A former hunting ground for the Kings of France, this public park has become the largest spot for relaxation in the west of Paris. With a surface area of about 850 hectares, it is one of the lungs of the capital. With this project, I wish to document the unknown facets of the park. Whether it is a place to walk or work, a clandestine area or an object of fantasy hiding an ungraspable reality, the Bois is a miniature Paris where passers-by mix with one another or avoid each other carefully.

Year

In progress

Place

Bois de Boulogne, France

Exhibition

Collective Exhibition, Tenuta, Lausanne 2017

Year2018 PlaceCassis, France Paris, France Saint-Raphaël, France Client

Tectona

Year2016 PlacePalais de Beaulieu, Lausanne, Switzerland Client

Prix de Lausanne

Project directed by Matthieu Gafsou

Year2016 PlaceCHUV, Lausanne, Switzerland ClientCentre hospitalier universitaire vaudois

Project directed by Matthieu Gafsou

Year

2018

Place

Scandinavia

Year

2018

Place

La Tour-de-Peilz , Switzerland

Client

Giovanoli-Mozer

Year

2019

Place

Audemars Piguet, Le Brassus, Switzerland

Client

Bureau Future

Year

2018-2019

Client

Valentoine

Year

2018

Place

Zurich, Switzerland

Client

On Running

Year

Since 2021

Place

Zurich, Switzerland

Client

On Running

Year

2019 - 2020

Place

EPFL, Lausanne, Swizerland

EPFZ, Zurich, Swizerland

Client

Bruther Architecte

Year

2020

Place

Zurich, Switzerland

Client

On Running

Year

2021

Place

Lausanne, Switzerland

Client

Topox

Year

Since 2019

Client

Studio Alice Franchetti

For its anniversary edition in 2023, the Prix de Lausanne has given the Lausanne photographer Etienne Malapert a “carte blanche” to document the competition in his own way. In order to highlight dance and the precision of its movements on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Prix de Lausanne, the project carried out for the carte blanche 2023 is an artistic creation aimed at showing, in a precise and systematic way, fragments of dancers’ bodies in movement: hands, feet, backs, legs, and faces. A return to its roots for the Prix de Lausanne, accompanied by a return to the competition’s historic venue, the Théâtre de Beaulieu in Lausanne.

This work was produced for an exhibition organized to mark the inauguration of the Dubochet Center for Imaging. Together with Thomas Brasey, Delphine Burtin, Olga Cafiero and Matthieu Gafsou

Year

2024

Place

Unil, Lausanne, Switzerland

Client

Dubochet Center for Imaging

Etienne Malapert is a French photographer born in 1991‭ ‬in Paris‭, ‬and who lives and works in Lausanne‭. ‬He obtained his baccalaureate in Applied Arts in 2010‭ ‬and did a one-year foundation course at the Ateliers de Sèvres‭. ‬He obtained a Bachelor in Photography with honours from the ECAL‭. ‬He won the Swiss Design Awards 2016‭ ‬with his project‭ ‬“The City of Possibilities”‭ ‬and was also selected for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2016‭. ‬He has exhibited his work in several group exhibitions‭, ‬such as‭ ‬‮«‬Voix off‮»‬‭ ‬in Arles 2017‭ ‬or‭ ‬‮«‬Les usages du monde‮»‬‭ ‬in Lille in 2020‭. ‬His first monograph‭, ‬The City of Possibilities was published by art&fiction in 2021‭.‬

Exhibitions & Prize

  • 2021
    • Book publication, The City of Possibilities, art&fiction
    • Individual exhibition, Galerie Startes, Lausanne
    • Collective exhibition, Festival de la Harpe, Rolle
  • 2020
    • Collective exhibition, Les usages du monde, Lille
  • 2017
    • Collective exhibition, Immagini dal Futuro, Triennale, Milan
    • Collective exhibition, projection, Festival Circulations, Paris
    • Collective exhibition, Tenuta, Lausanne
    • Collective exhibition, Voies Off, Arles
  • 2016
    • Collective exhibition, Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, Londres
    • Swiss Design Award, Art Basel, Winner, Basel
    • Collective exhibition, Riga photomonth, Riga
    • Collective exhibition, Journée photographique, Bienne
  • 2015
    • Lensculture Emerging Talent Awards, Winner
    • Collective exhibition, Lensculture Emerging, San Francisco
    • Collective exhibition, Ecal, 1020 Renens

Education

  • 2011-2015
    • Bachelor of Visual Communication, Photography, Ecal, Lausanne
  • 2010-2011
    • Preparatory year, Ateliers de Sèvres, Paris
  • 2008-2010
    • Baccalaureat, applied arts, Paris