BIENNALE IMAGES VEVEY
10th EDITION
WE ARE FAMILY!
Vevey (Switzerland)
5–27 September 2026

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 m² portrait of Grace Jones by Anoush Abrar, JR's photo booth truck during the opening weekend, the first-ever public opening of the Château de l'Aile gardens, and Richard Billingham's Ray's a Laugh thirty years on, marking the bicentenary of photography.

A CELEBRATION OF FAMILY IN THE BROADEST SENSE

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 Zinédine 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 Dörr 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 Musée 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 m² image of his friend Grace Jones on the façade of the Nestlé 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 Zinédine Zidane and Brad Pitt.

THE CHÂTEAU DE L'AILE, EPICENTER OF THIS EDITION

For three weeks, the gardens and main apartment of Château 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 Elysée 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.

Booklette, 5th edition
Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 September 2026, 11am–7pm
Parvis de la Grenette, Grande Place 28, 1800 Vevey
Free admission

THREE WEEKS WHERE IMAGES AND CELEBRATION MEET

A rich programme of events unfolds alongside the exhibitions: concerts, creative workshops, storytelling cafés, skateboarding sessions, screenings, shows and performances punctuate the Biennale. Every Sunday, the Montreux Jazz Festival takes over the Nestlé gardens for free DJ sets. On Fridays and Saturdays, the Château de l'Aile evenings take over: Fuzzy live, with Daddy Fred and Ghiaccioli & Branzini on the decks.

OPENING Saturday 5 Sept 2026 from 11:00 to 00:00 - Free entry Théâtre de Verdure
Programme → 11:00 Exhibitions open – free entry → 17:30 – 18:30 Opening ceremony with official speeches and the presentation of the Grand Prix Images Vevey at…

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

BIENNALE IMAGES VEVEY 2026 10th edition — We are family!
5 to 27 September 2026
Free admission · Indoor venues open 11am–7pm
Outdoor installations accessible 24/7

OPENING WEEKEND
Opening: Saturday 5 September 2026, exhibitions 11am–7pm
Speeches from 5.30pm at Jardin du Rivage
JR photo booth truck / Inside Out Project: Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September 2026, 11am–7pm

The Swiss Visual Arts Biennial
10th edition
WE ARE FAMILY!

→ A celebration
Of the great Images Vevey family: since 2008, more than 500 artists from 55 countries, alongside visitors, partners, media and audience, have shaped the Biennale's history. Several artists return to Vevey for this 10th edition

→ A programme
An exploration of family in its many forms: biological, chosen, artistic, political, emotional and social

→ A statement
In a world marked by polarisation, a simple affirmation: family, whether biological or chosen, remains an essential space for solidarity and learning to live together

From 5 to 27 September 2026, the Biennale Images Vevey celebrates its 10th edition under the theme  We are family! : an anniversary edition dedicated to reunion, kinship and celebration, featuring around fifty artists from some fifteen countries.

“A city turned art gallery.”
— The New York Times
Images Vevey is a family!
For its 10th edition, the Biennale Images Vevey explores the notion of family in a broad, living and contemporary sense. As announced at the presentation of the 2026 award-winning projects at the Rencontres d'Arles in July 2025, this anniversary edition places the emphasis on the importance of the bonds woven at the heart of Images Vevey and around it.
The chosen family, the artistic family, the professional family, the extended, blended and transgenerational family — and also the one we have yet to meet.
Images Vevey has always functioned as a family: that of the artists with whom projects are built over time and in different forms; that of the teams and staff who bring the Biennale to life; that of the partners, institutions, political representatives, media and publishers with whom exhibitions and books take shape; and of course that of the audience — loyal and curious — without whom none of it would mean anything.
Hailing from 55 countries, the artists of the Images Vevey family have accepted since 2008 the challenge of presenting their work in unusual ways: installations in public space, monumental formats, reinterpretations of images conceived to engage in dialogue with the city and connect with a wide audience. They include major figures of contemporary art as well as masters of film, emerging photographers and students in training.
This anniversary edition celebrates bonds, transmissions, frictions at times, legacies, affections, tensions and solidarities with an open, collective and resolutely contemporary energy. A Biennale conceived as a gathering place, accessible to all, where the image becomes a shared language.

WE ARE FAMILY! is at once:
→ A celebration
Of the great Images Vevey family: between 2008 and 2026, more than 500 artists from 55 countries—alongside partners, media and audiences—have shaped the Biennale. Several artists will be invited to return for this 10th edition.
→ A programme
An exploration of family in its many forms: biological, chosen, artistic, political, emotional—addressing questions of lineage, motherhood, fatherhood, transmission, grief and birth, among others.
→ A statement
In a world marked by polarisation, a simple affirmation: family, whether biological or chosen, remains an essential space for solidarity and learning to live together.

2026: AN ANNIVERSARY EDITION, A SYMBOLIC YEAR
The 10th edition of the Biennale Images Vevey will also honour other celebrations:
→ 200 years of photography
To mark the bicentenary of photography, Images Vevey joins the programme of the French Ministry of Culture by celebrating British artist Richard Billingham with an exhibition specially produced for the thirtieth anniversary of his iconic series Ray’s a Laugh.
→ 15 years of Inside Out
After 590,374 portraits in 154 countries, JR has chosen the Biennale Images Vevey to mark fifteen years of his internationally renowned Inside Out project, one of whose first major milestones took place in Vevey in 2012.
→ 60 years of the Montreux Jazz Festival
A nod to the musical big brother, with an outdoor installation of portraits of international stars such as Grace Jones, Lionel Richie, Janelle Mon e and Sting, captured by Anoush Abrar.

BIENNALE IMAGES VEVEY
Dates: 5–27 September 2026
Opening: Saturday 5 September 2026
Nearly 50 projects presented
Site-specific installations
Indoor and outdoor
Entirely free of charge
Vevey, Switzerland

Ten editions, eighteen years of existence, 486 artists from 55 countries and 513 original photographic installations created specifically for the city of Vevey. Add to this 41 books published, 20 prize winners and 39 special mentions awarded through various prizes and support programmes. These figures speak to the scale of the work accomplished by Images Vevey in producing and promoting contemporary photography on an international stage. Since its founding in 2008, the Biennale Images Vevey has established itself as the most important visual arts biennial in Switzerland and as an international reference for contemporary photography. The 2026 edition marks the tenth instalment of the Biennale — an anniversary edition that underscores the continuity and singularity of an event that, every two years, transforms the city of Vevey into a vast terrain of visual experimentation.
With each edition, the Biennale brings together artists, audiences and media from around the world around a unique concept: bespoke photographic installations conceived in close dialogue with the spaces that host them. Indoors and outdoors, in public spaces, museums and specially activated sites, Vevey becomes an imagecity, shaped by monumental, immersive and site-specific projects