Conference at the Grand Hotel du Lac

We are experiencing a radical transformation in our relationship with the world. Digital technology has become omnipresent in our way of life—we communicate through screens, we consume thousands of images every day, our attention is shaped by algorithms. Everything is instantaneous, optimized, infinitely reproducible.

In this world of speed and dematerialization, what becomes of art? What remains of the direct encounter with a work of art, of the patience required for contemplation, of the physical presence before an object born of a creative gesture, shaped by human energy?

The organic versus the digital is not merely an aesthetic opposition – it is an ontological confrontation. Digital traces sterile perfection, without flaw or memory. Digital navigates between icy precision and soulless efficiency. The organic demands time, welcomes imperfection, follows the rhythms of nature. We scroll through forests on our phones, but when have we felt moss beneath our fingers?

This conference proposes art as a last sanctuary - a silent cathedral where time becomes living matter again, where imperfection becomes pure beauty, where we can simply be present.

Karin Moser, Professor of Organizational Sociology, will open the discussion on the place of art in today's world.

After the opening of the discussion by Karin Moser, two artists from the ORGANIC exhibition, Angela McFall and Georg Massanés, will share their practice. They work with nature – not merely as a subject, but as a source of inspiration, as a vehicle to travel beyond the predictable. Their approach reminds us that art offers what digital can never reproduce: the irreplaceable encounter, the mystery that cannot be explained, the texture that no screen can transmit.

Conference program

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3:00 PM – Introduction

We are experiencing a radical transformation in our relationship with the world. Digital technology has become omnipresent in our way of life—we communicate through screens, we consume thousands of images every day, our attention is shaped by algorithms. Everything is instantaneous, optimized, infinitely reproducible.

In this world of speed and dematerialization, what becomes of art? What remains of the direct encounter with a work of art, of the patience required for contemplation, of the physical presence before an object born of a creative gesture, shaped by human energy?

The organic versus the digital is not merely an aesthetic opposition – it is an ontological confrontation. Digital traces sterile perfection, without flaw or memory. Digital navigates between icy precision and soulless efficiency. The organic demands time, welcomes imperfection, follows the rhythms of nature. We scroll through forests on our phones, but when have we felt moss beneath our fingers?

This conference proposes art as a last sanctuary - a silent cathedral where time becomes living matter again, where imperfection becomes pure beauty, where we can simply be present.

After the opening of the discussion by Karin Moser, two artists from the ORGANIC exhibition, Angela McFall and Georg Massanés, will share their practice. They work with nature – not merely as a subject, but as a source of inspiration, as a vehicle to travel beyond the predictable. Their approach reminds us that art offers what digital can never reproduce: the irreplaceable encounter, the mystery that cannot be explained, the texture that no screen can transmit.

3:10 PM – Karin S Moser - holds a doctorate in social psychology from the University of Zurich and works at the University of Bern.

Her research, teaching, and consulting work focus on cooperation, communication, and decision-making. Karin is particularly interested in understanding the conditions favorable to social behaviors and social sustainability within groups and organizations, with a specific interest in the effects of digitization, intercultural differences, and social norms.

3:20 PM – Angela McFall – painter and art professor

She will discuss the timeless power of painting on canvas.

3:30 PM – Georg Massanés – painter and author of several bibliophile books.

We've adapted to scanning rather than deep reading, processing information in shorter bursts. The constant stream of updates trains us to expect novelty, making sustained focus on single subjects feel more effortful. This affects how thoroughly we engage with complex ideas.

3:50 PM – Closing remarks / Q&A session

This evening marks the opening of the ORGANIC exhibition organized by ART VEVEY, from February 3 to March 3, 2026, at Galerie 21 Grande Place in Vevey, where you can discover the works of Angela McFall, Georg Massanes, Alicia Marsans, Ada Zielińska, and Marine Prunier, who celebrate that special alchemy where observation of the natural world becomes a springboard for the imagination, where nature is no longer just a subject but a creative force in its own right.

This is what the ORGANIC exhibition proposes: art as sanctuary. Not sanctuary as escape, but as reclamation of what matters. A space where other values can breathe – where slowness is creative, where imperfection is beauty, where presence becomes possible again.

The artists of this exhibition draw from the source of nature – not merely as a motif, but as origin, as inspiration, as a vehicle to travel beyond the predictable. Nature operates according to temporalities that resist our impatience. It offers forms and rhythms that no algorithm can generate, because they are born of living processes and not lines of code.

Finally, what will remain of art? Everything that refuses optimization. Everything that resists the instantaneous. Everything that reminds us that we are organic beings in an organic world, and not aggregates of data.

 

4:00 PM – Aperitif and meet the artists