Lucas Erin. Titre en attente
Manor Art Prize 2026 Vaud

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For his show in the Espace Projet, Lucas Erin presents a new series of works that explore the garden, its connection to the seasons and climatic variations, its changing meanings across different latitudes, its particular economy, as well as its place in specific histories and temporalities

Lucas Erin’s work revolves around installation, sculpture and sound. Interested in the notion of contact, of which objects are the trace, attentive to the question of the relationship between interior and exterior and the shifting boundary that separates them, Erin explores, through concise gestures, what happens or fails in an exchange. Questions of circulation and sharing are at the heart of his reflections. His found objects and carefully crafted sculptures contain both the threads of interwoven stories and hints of narratives in the making. Inspired by thinkers of creolisation, revisiting his Martinican heritage through the prism of his connection to the land and the plants that grow there, the artist works using associations, reappropriations, and shifts that allow new possibilities to emerge in the exhibition space.

Lucas Erin (*1990) is a Lausanne-based artist. His work is anchored in a multicultural exploration of concepts of human connection and interrelations, and forms of resistance to social normalisation. His work has been featured in several solo shows, notably at La Salle de bains in Lyon, the di volta in volta art space in Paris (2024), and All Stars in Lausanne (2021). He has also taken part in numerous group exhibitions, including shows at MCBA (Lausanne), Circuit (Lausanne), Helmhaus (Zurich), and Liste (Basel).

A 2016 graduate of the visual arts programme at ÉCAL, the University of Art and Design Lausanne, Lucas Erin first devoted several years to exploring the collective dimensions of his art practice. He played an active role in the independent art scene as a cofounder of the Happy Baby Gallery (Crissier, 2013–2016), then as a member of La Colonie in Paris (2016–2020), collaborating as well on a number of curation projects between Paris and Lausanne.

Lucas Erin was awarded the 2022 Visual Arts Cultural Grant by the Fondation Leenaards.

Exhibition curator: Nicole Schweizer, contemporary art curator, MCBA

The Manor Art Prize

Launched in 1982 to promote young Swiss talent in the arts, the Manor Art Prize is awarded every two years by a jury – for the Manor Art Prize Vaud, the artists are selected from a short list drawn up by MCBA. Coming at a key moment in the career of emerging artists, the prize makes it possible to offer awardees a decisive show of support for their work. In this way the Manor Art Prize Vaud helps to foster and promote the regional contemporary art scene in the Canton of Vaud. The Manor Art Prize Vaud has been awarded to the following artists: Laurent Huber (1989), Alain Huck (1990), Laurence Pittet (1991), Bernard Voïta (1994), Ariane Epars (1996), Anne Peverelli (1998), Nicolas Savary (2001), Philippe Decrauzat (2002), Didier Rittener (2005), Catherine Leutenegger (2006), Aloïs Godinat (2009), Laurent Kropf (2011), Julian Charrière (2014), Annaïk Lou Pitteloud (2016), Anne Rochat (2020), Sarah Margnetti (2022), and Gina Proenza (2024).

The jury for the Manor Art Prize 2026 Vaud

The jury that has awarded the Manor Art Prize 2026 Vaud to Lucas Erin was made up of the following members:

  • Melanie Bühler, curator of Contemporary Art, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
  • Elisabeth Jobin, curator, MAMCO, Geneva
  • Matthias Sohr, artist and co-director of Circuit, Lausanne
  • Pierre André Maus, Maus Frères SAChantal Prod’Hom, Lausanne
  • Chantal Prod’Hom, Lausanne