1982
1982 marked a major turning point for the Festival’s posters, with artist and future ECAL director Pierre Keller, a close friend of Claude Nobs, now selecting the designers in his capacity as artistic advisor. Keller had the brilliant idea of entrusting this work to artists instead of graphic designers in order to produce true works of art. The first such poster was commissioned from Jean Tinguely, famous for his creaking, mad machines, which can be seen as poetic parodies of assembly-line industrial production. The Swiss artist produced a gouache firework enhanced by various collage elements, including a central yellow feather. Tinguely’s distinctive hand lettering was subtly reworked by Pierre Keller to create the Festival’s iconic new logo.
