HELGA 2026 – Love Story

Friday 16 Octo­ber 2026

Swiss Gath­er­ing for Profes­sion­als in Sceno­graphy and Spatial Commu­nic­a­tion

Organ­ised by mudac and HEAD – Genève, HELGA 2026 has estab­lished itself as Switzer­land’s lead­ing gath­er­ing for profes­sion­als in sceno­graphy and spatial commu­nic­a­tion. Under the theme Love Story, this new event explores profes­sional rela­tion­ships, creat­ive tensions and fruit­ful alli­ances through a day of conver­sa­tions, encoun­ters and shared perspect­ives.

Prices

Professional 55 CHF
Student, Alumni 15 CHF
Sponsorship
(1 entry pro + 1 student entry)		 70 CHF
Pioneer
(1 entry + support for HELGA)		 95 CHF
ICOM Member 45 CHF

Theme : Love Story: Profes­sional Rela­tion­ships, Creat­ive Tensions and Fruit­ful Alli­ances

Behind every exhib­i­tion, every spatial inter­ven­tion, every sceno­graphic narrat­ive, lies a story of human rela­tion­ships. Dialogues that are at times seam­less, at others charged with fric­tion. Nego­ti­ations, comprom­ises, shared enthu­si­asms and product­ive disagree­ments. Stor­ies shaped by trust, misun­der­stand­ings, subtle align­ments and fertile tensions.

For its 2026 event, organ­ised in part­ner­ship by mudac and HEAD – Genève, HELGA invites parti­cipants to explore these profes­sional "love stor­ies" that shape the prac­tice of sceno­graphy: the rela­tion­ships between sceno­graph­ers, curat­ors, design­ers, insti­tu­tions, artists, clients and produc­tion teams.

Design­ing an exhib­i­tion is, above all, about build­ing a rela­tion­ship, one groun­ded in listen­ing, inter­pret­a­tion, trans­la­tion and projec­tion. A rela­tion­ship in which curat­orial vision, spatial ambi­tion, insti­tu­tional constraints, budget­ary demands and tech­nical real­it­ies are intric­ately inter­twined. A rela­tion­ship where each parti­cipant must find their place, nego­ti­ate their territ­ory, defend their convic­tions, while remain­ing open to other perspect­ives.

Between passion and frus­tra­tion, compli­city and conflict, these collab­or­a­tions become true profes­sional love stor­ies: some­times ideal, some­times toxic, often complex, yet always trans­form­at­ive. They profoundly shape creat­ive processes, the spatial forms that emerge, and the narrat­ives ulti­mately offered to audi­ences.

HELGA 2026 invites parti­cipants to reflect on the rela­tional dynam­ics that shape our profes­sions:

  • Dialogues between curat­ors and sceno­graph­ers
  • Ques­tions of power and respons­ib­il­ity
  • Tensions between content and form
  • Fric­tions between creat­ive free­dom and insti­tu­tional constraints
  • The delic­ate balance between desire, commit­ment and economic real­it­ies

Through present­a­tions, discus­sions, parti­cip­at­ory formats and moments of exchange, this gath­er­ing aims to create a collect­ive space for reflec­tion on the condi­tions under which our projects are produced, as well as on the profoundly human dimen­sion of our prac­tices.

Program 2026

13h00 Welcome and introductory remarks
13h40 -15h10 Part 1

Presentations by:

HEAD Department of Scenography

Swiss Professional Association for Scenography Professions (Mattias Mohr and Fabienne Geneviève Barras)

ICOM ARCHI-TECHS (Marina Martin)

BeAr Studio

"Let's Play", a participatory and interactive moment
15h10-17h30 Part 2
Case Studies by 9 speakers
17h30 - 21h00 Mentoring, discussions and meetings between professionals and students
Aperitif prepared by Collectif La Dalle

Part 1

13:55–14:05 Linkedin

Marina Martin is a museum profes­­sional with a multidiscip­lin­ary and inter­­n­a­­tional career dedic­ated to museums from multiple perspect­ives. She currently works as Exhib­i­­tions and Collec­­tion Regis­trar at Photo Elysée and serves as Chair of ICOM ARCHI-TECHS, the Inter­­n­a­­tional Coun­­­cil of Museums’ Commit­tee for Museum Archi­tec­ture and Tech­­niques.

Trained as an archi­tect and urban designer (São Paulo State Univer­­s­ity and ENSA Paris–La Villette), she holds a joint master’s degree in Cultural Herit­age Manage­­ment (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Univer­­s­ity of Évora, and Univer­­s­ity of Padua) and a joint PhD in History and Art History (State Univer­­s­ity of Camp­i­nas, Ca’ Foscari Univer­­s­ity and IUAV Venice).

Her profes­­sional exper­­i­ence includes work­ing as a conser­­va­­tion archi­tect (KruchinArquitetura), and exhib­i­­tion designer / coordin­ator (Santi­ago Calat­rava – Archi­tects & Engin­eers). She has also taught exhib­i­­tion design at a higher educa­­tion level (Senac) and wasguest lecturer on Letter­­atura artist­ica e pratiche curat­or­i­ali (Ca’ Foscari Univer­­s­ity). Along­side her profes­­sional activ­it­ies, she conducts inde­pend­ent research at the inter­­sec­­tion of art and archi­tec­tural history, with a partic­u­lar focus on the history of cultural insti­tu­­tions, includ­ing the Venice Bien­nale.

14:05–14:10 Website
Sceno­­graphy Switzer­­­land is the new profes­­sional asso­­ci­a­tion for sceno­­graphy profes­­sions in Switzer­­­land. The asso­­ci­a­tion aims to develop a vibrant network for sceno­­graph­ers and strengthen sceno­­graphy as an inde­pend­ent profes­­sional discip­line. We will present the asso­­ci­a­tion and also look forward to an informal exchange "off stage."
14:10–14:30

BeAr is an archi­tec­ture studio based in Bilbao, foun­­ded by Ane Arce and Iñigo Bear­as­tegui. Estab­l­ished in 2016, the prac­­tice explores archi­tec­ture as a discurs­ive prac­­tice, in which design, research and crit­ical reflec­­tion feed into one another.

Recog­n­ised by several insti­tu­­tions, includ­ing Egur­tek, the Peña Ganchegui Archives Found­a­­tion and the BEAU, their approach exam­ines the cultural, polit­ical and social dimen­­sions of contem­­por­ary archi­tec­ture.

Part 2

15:15–15:25 Website

Trained as a designer, Sophie Civita contrib­utes to the concep­­tion and produc­­tion of exhib­i­­tions at the Pavil­lon de l’Arsenal, a center for inform­a­­tion, docu­­ment­a­­tion, and exhib­i­­tions dedic­ated to the archi­tec­ture and urban devel­op­­ment of Paris and the Greater Paris metro­­pol­itan area. Her role lies at the inter­­sec­­tion of produc­­tion, exhib­i­­tion design, and project coordin­a­­tion. She is involved in the imple­­ment­a­­tion of exhib­i­­tions and the devel­op­­ment of their spatial and narrat­ive devices, work­ing closely with the vari­ous stake­hold­­ers involved in their real­­iz­a­­tion.

As a produ­cer of exhib­i­­tions and docu­­ment­ar­ies, publisher of books and digital content, and organ­­izer of public debates, the Pavil­lon de l’Arsenal show­cases and dissem­in­ates the work of those who imagine, design, and shape the city. Through the dynamic present­a­­tion of the capit­al’s urban devel­op­­ment, its program high­­lights creat­iv­ity and the diversity of approaches, enabling every­one to better under­­stand and engage with the chal­lenges of urban construc­­tion, both past and future.

15:25–15:35

Emma Canton, Frida Law, and Sofia Tapia Buchelli met while complet­ing a Master of Arts in Interior Archi­tec­ture in Geneva, Switzer­­­land.

Coming from differ­­ent cultural and design back­­­grounds – Italy, Hong Kong, and Mexico, respect­ively – they bring together their indi­vidual perspect­ives into a collect­ive invest­ig­a­­tion of the discip­line today.

The projects they have completed together span the fields of sceno­­graphy, research, interior archi­tec­ture, and set design, having parti­­cip­ated in fest­ivals such as MMMAD 2024 in Madrid and the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine in Geneva, and organ­­ized inter­­n­a­­tional symposi­ums with the Insti­­tute for Post­n­at­ural Stud­ies.

Emma currently lives in Belgium, where she has worked as a designer of fest­ival and club spaces for Horst fest­ival at Onkruid, and as a spatial designer at Stand Van Zaken, Doorzon and Theo De Meyer. Frida lives and works in Hong Kong with studios such as POINT and NAPP on exhib­i­­tions, install­a­­tions, and set design. Sofia currently lives in Milan where she works for 2050+ on projects ranging between cura­­tion, research, exhib­i­­tion design, and archi­tec­ture.

The three of them decided to embark together on a project for an open call during their spare time.

15:35–15:45 Linkedin

Marco Calderón is a Franco-Mexican curator and researcher special­­iz­ing in cultural exchanges between Europe and Latin Amer­­ica, partic­u­larly Mexico. He trained in Art-Space at the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décor­at­ifs de Paris (ENSAD) and holds a Master’s degree in the Art Market from IESA (2016–2017).

A PhD candid­ate in Aesthet­­ics at the Univer­­s­ity of Paris 8, his doctoral research focuses on national repres­ent­a­­tions at the Venice Bien­nale. Follow­ing ten years of curat­orial prac­­tice in France, he served as Pres­id­ent and Artistic Director of the Art Play­ers asso­­ci­a­tion in Paris (2017–2025). He also curated the trav­el­ing exhib­i­­tion The First to Laugh by Maur­i­­cio Limón (Paris–Mad­rid–Ber­­lin, 2020–2022), in collab­or­a­­tion with the Mexican Cultural Insti­­tute in France.

Since Octo­ber 2025, he has been Curat­orial Advisor to AMES – Asociación de Artis­tas Mexicanos en Suiza (Bern). During his resid­ency at air-Montreux, he conceived the exhib­i­­tion Ten Million, Switzer­­­land Does Not Exist, which creates a dialogue between two territ­or­ies.

Through his curat­orial and research prac­­tice, Marco Calderón invest­ig­ates the ways exhib­i­­tions, artistic insti­tu­­tions, and inter­­n­a­­tional cultural events contrib­ute to the construc­­tion of national narrat­ives and transna­­tional imagin­ar­ies. His work combines schol­arly inquiry with exhib­i­­tion-making, bring­­ing together contem­­por­ary art, crit­ical theory, and inter­­cul­tural dialogue.

15:45–15:55 Linkedin
Rahel Rippel is currently complet­ing a Master’s degree in Design Install­a­­tion at HEAD – Genève. Origin­ally from Germany, she moved to Bern, Switzer­­­land, during her adoles­­cence. With a back­­­ground in Illus­tra­­tion and Install­a­­tion, her prac­­tice explores how illus­tra­­tion can expand into space, creat­ing immer­s­ive narrat­ives and collect­ive exper­­i­ences.
Through install­a­­tions, parti­­cip­at­ory projects, and collab­or­at­ive processes, she invest­ig­ates social struc­tures, human rela­­tion­­ships, and every­day life. Her work often imagines altern­­at­ive real­it­ies and utopian forms of care, using work­shop struc­tures as a space for encounter, exchange, and collect­ive imagin­a­­tion.
Work­ing with low-budget mater­­i­als, she devel­ops trans­dis­­­cip­lin­ary projects that bring people together and invite new perspect­ives on shared social real­it­ies.
16:35–16:45

Le Bureau des Scéno, foun­­ded by Neda, Valeria, Célia and Fanny in the summer of 2025, is a collect­ive of sceno­­graph­ers work­ing in the perform­ing arts sector in French-speak­­ing Switzer­­­land.

It was born from a shared desire to come together in order to promote and advoc­ate for the profes­­sion, while creat­ing a space for exchange, reflec­­tion and mutual support.

16:45–16:55 Website

Phil­ippe Calame stud­ied at the Gradu­ate Insti­­tute of Inter­­n­a­­tional Stud­ies in Geneva (IUHEI) follow­ing the comple­­tion of his second­ary educa­­tion, earn­ing his degree in 1995. In 2000, he under­­took audi­o­visual train­ing with the Centre for Contem­­por­ary Image (CIC) in Geneva and was registered in the Swiss profes­­sional register of journ­al­ists (RP) in 2003.

After work­ing in tele­vi­­sion, he developed his prac­­tice as a director of photo­­graphy and docu­­ment­ary film­­maker. In 2018, he success­­fully completed a Certi­fic­ate of Advanced Stud­ies (CAS) in continu­ing educa­­tion at the Univer­­s­ity of Neuchâtel, entitled Promot­ing a Cultural Insti­tu­­tion.

His profes­­sional activ­it­ies include the produc­­tion and direc­­tion of docu­­ment­ary and fiction films (cinema and tele­vi­­sion), journ­al­istic reports, as well as insti­tu­­tional and museum-related projects.

16:55–17:05 Website

Chiara Rubessi, PhD, is a researcher and lecturer in design history and culture at ISIA Rome and Florence and the Acca­­demia di Brera (Milan), as well as co-founder and repres­ent­at­ive of ONEx­hib­itEdu, an inde­pend­ent, open research plat­­form, archive, and inter­­n­a­­tional space for cultural and scientific exchange and shar­ing dedic­ated to exhib­i­­tion stud­ies, contem­­por­ary exhib­i­­tion design, and spatial commu­n­ic­a­­tion prac­­tices. Combin­ing visual stud­ies, design theory, and care prac­­tices, her academic research explores the inter­­sec­­tion of spaces, insti­tu­­tions, and social sustain­­ab­il­ity, oper­­at­ing at the cross­roads of pedagogy and insti­tu­­tional critique.

ONEx­hib­itEdu promotes a shared research and design exper­­i­ence conduc­ted by research­ers and design­ers. Its activ­it­ies range from explor­ing the macro­­cosm of exhib­i­­tions glob­ally to curat­ing special­­ized bibli­o­­graph­ies and archiv­ing and shar­ing real­­ized exhib­i­­tion projects. In partic­u­lar, through calls dedic­ated to indi­vidual keywords, the plat­­form opens spaces for collect­ive debate aimed at invest­ig­at­ing the concep­tual, oper­­a­­tional, crit­ical, and semantic value of key terms in exhib­i­­tion design. The exhib­i­­tion is thus conceived not as a linear produc­­tion or a mere tool for trans­mit­t­ing pre-exist­ing know­ledge, but as an exper­­i­­mental prac­­tice and a rela­­tional process foun­­ded on inter­­ac­­tions between curat­ors, design­ers, insti­tu­­tions, and audi­ences.

By posi­­tion­ing educa­­tion and theor­­et­ical reflec­­tion as crit­ical tools to exam­ine the infra­­struc­tures of cultural produc­­tion, ONEx­hib­itEdu aims to foster a continu­ous debate direc­ted at renew­ing and stim­u­lat­ing forms of theor­­et­ical and sens­it­ive discus­­sion on exhib­i­­tion design. Its work contrib­utes to an evolving discourse on contem­­por­ary exhib­i­­tion ecolo­­gies, emphas­­iz­ing process, collab­or­a­­tions, and the crit­ical obser­­va­­tion of rela­­tional systems within cultural produc­­tion, across profes­­sional and academic contexts inter­­n­a­­tion­ally.

17:05–17:15 Instagram

Martino De Grandis (he/him) is an Italian photo­­grapher and interior archi­tect oper­­at­ing across archi­tec­ture, image-making and object culture.

His work explores how economic, cultural and ecolo­­gical condi­­tions shape the produc­­tion and percep­­tion of space, and how power rela­­tions are mater­­i­al­ised and medi­ated through envir­on­­ments, spatial beha­­viours and images.

Through collab­or­at­ive research, site-specific install­a­­tions, photo­­graphic produc­­tion and exhib­i­­tions, he constructs spec­u­lat­ive narrat­ives and altern­­at­ive read­ings that ques­­tion our built envir­on­­ment.

17:15–17:25 Instagram

Collec­­tif Contre­­marche is a collect­ive of spatial design­ers. Through multidiscip­lin­ary collab­or­a­­tions, it explores the rela­­tion­­ships between people and the spaces they inhabit, with partic­u­lar atten­­tion to mater­­i­als and their traject­or­ies. The collect­ive works across sceno­­graphy, install­a­­tion, set design, and object design.

Contre­­marche advoc­ates for a co-creat­ive approach, bring­­ing together diverse passions, skills, and perspect­ives to develop thought­­ful and innov­­at­ive projects. By pool­ing exper­t­ise and distrib­ut­ing respon­s­ib­il­it­ies, the collect­ive seeks to gener­­ate a wide range of creat­ive responses to a given constraint, while continu­ally expand­ing the possib­il­it­ies of sceno­­graphy and spatial design.

The collect­ive promotes an access­ible, sustain­­able, and context-sens­it­ive design prac­­tice, commit­ted to enga­­ging thought­­fully with the envir­on­­ments in which its projects take shape. Through collab­or­a­­tion and exper­­i­­ment­a­­tion, Contre­­marche aims to unlock the full creat­ive poten­­tial of spatial design while foster­­ing mean­ing­­ful connec­­tions between people, mater­­i­als, and places.

15:55–16:30 / 17:30–21:00 Website

La dalle is a collect­ive foun­­ded in 2023 by Julie Chavaz and Angélique Kuen­zle, whose prac­­tice lies at the inter­­sec­­tion of archi­tec­ture, craft­s­­man­­ship, and food. Their work explores territ­or­ies in trans­i­tion, using culin­ary gestures as tools to read, inter­­­pret, and engage in dialogue with the built envir­on­­ment.

As women prac­­ti­­tion­ers actively involved in the field of construc­­tion, Julie Chavaz and Angélique Kuen­zle reflect on the place of altern­­at­ive modes of prac­­tice within an industry that remains largely male-domin­­ated. Their work explores approaches rooted in care, collab­or­a­­tion, and embod­ied know­ledge.

Their perform­ances take place in sites under­­go­ing trans­­form­a­­tion, such as construc­­tion sites, indus­trial waste­­lands, and vacant build­ings, offer­­ing collect­ive and ephem­eral exper­­i­ences that chal­lenge the codes and hier­­arch­ies of the construc­­tion industry. By combin­ing spatial explor­a­­tion with culin­ary action, La dalle opens these spaces to shared and sens­it­ive forms of appro­­pri­a­tion, creat­ing moments of encounter and exchange.

By ques­­tion­ing estab­l­ished norms and fixed uses, the collect­ive invites audi­ences to imagine altern­­at­ive ways of inhab­­it­ing the territ­ory. Taste thus becomes both an artistic and social medium, capable of reveal­ing, connect­ing, and rein­vent­ing narrat­ives rooted in mater­­i­al­ity, labor, and the ground itself.

About HELGA

Created in 2012 as an exchange plat­­form for the Swiss sceno­­graphy community, HELGA has since become a key forum and meet­ing point for profes­­sion­als in sceno­­graphy and spatial commu­n­ic­a­­tion. 

After events in Lucerne (2012–2014), Zurich (2015–2017), Basel (2018–2021) and again Lucerne (2022–2024), HELGA will for the first time take place in the French-speak­­ing part of Switzer­­­land. The host for 2025–2027 will be mudac in Lausanne, emphas­ising sceno­­graphy’s import­ance for its own exhib­i­­tion activ­it­ies and foster­­ing exchanges among profes­­sion­als across linguistic borders. 

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