Yul Tomatala

Monorail

Single-channel film, 20 min., 2025–2026

WE COMMIT TO REDUCING OUR ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION TOGETHER. THE VIDEO WORKS IN THE MIRE PROGRAMME ARE ONLY SHOWN DURING PEAK HOURS, FROM 7 AM TO 9.30 AM, 12 PM TO 2.30 PM & 5.30 PM TO 8 PM. THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND ENJOY YOUR JOURNEY.

The video shown on the big screen at Lancy Pont-Rouge station opens with a countdown, repeated in three shots. With this gesture, Yul Tomatala immediately places his work within the field of cinema and in a specific time frame, that of the mid-20th century. Monorail alternates between sequences filmed using a drone and archive footage from the 1964 Swiss National Exhibition in Lausanne and the 1967 World’s Fair in Montreal. The archive blends with the present day, and the juxtaposition of these two registers exposes, as the artist explains, the “thirsty ambitions of modernity” embodied by outdated architecture. Tomatala uses a clear visual language. Certain figures anchor the image in a city—Geneva, Lausanne, or Montreal—and propel the viewer from one place to another. For example, the images of building destruction seen at the beginning of the film echo the urban context surrounding the Lancy Pont-Rouge train station, which is currently undergoing major changes. The train, the central feature of the station, appears in the film in the form of the monorail, a motorized vehicle emblematic of the 1964 Swiss National Exhibition. The road networks, filmed in long shots, allow the transition from Lausanne to Montreal. The digital images filmed by the artist consist of long tracking shots, giving passersby time to intelligibly grasp the geometric forms of the modernist architecture of the last century. But the camera eventually tilts, in an uncontrolled movement that evokes the instability of the values and principles advocated by modernity. The image, becoming elusive and illegible, eventually explodes, suggesting that the entire system is doomed to disappear.

Director and cinematographer: Yul Tomatala

Editing: Yul Tomatala and Orsola Valenti

Assistant director: Margot Sparkes

Drone operator (CH): Cédric Souaille

Drone operator (CA): Félix Brault

Archival footage:

Archives of the City of Montréal

Le Ciné-Journal suisse / Swiss Film Archive Collection

RTS Radio Télévision Suisse – 1964

Acknowledgements:

The Habitat 67 Limited Partnership and its residents, the Archives of the City of Montreal, the Casino de Montréal, the Société du parc Jean-Drapeau, the Press Service of the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva, the Cantonal Contemporary Art Fund, and the entire MIRE project committee.

Production: Fonds cantonal d'art contemporain, Geneva, for the MIRE programme

Autres artistes à Lancy-Pont-Rouge

Vidya Gastaldon

Julien Ceccaldi

2025_Sda_PortraitYulTomala_photoGreg Clément-3429

Yul Tomatala (*1993) studies photography at ECAL and, at the same time, is developing research into ways of displaying his still and moving images. The architectural structures designed by the artist function not only as a support for the images but also as a discursive tool to reinforce the subtitle of his works. Indeed, the aesthetics of the construction site favored by the artist—embodied by the beams and pillars, partition walls, and other supporting structures he exhibits—remind us that the meaning of images is constructed concurrently with the gaze placed upon them. Moreover, this aesthetic contrasts sharply with the rigorous and precise set of filmed and photographed images. Tomatala also applies this rigor to the research work that precedes the artwork. Archives are a valuable resource for the artist, who confronts them with diverse subjectivities. This is a way of reminding us that archives are not authoritative, and that the collective can be enriched by the personal. The questions addressed by Yul Tomatala generally revolve around the links between space, architecture, and the media.