Le Messager Boiteux is Switzerland’s oldest almanac, first published in 1707. Still released annually to this day, it once dispensed crop-growing advice, lunar calendars and horoscopes, traditional remedies, and important information about politics and the local community. Olga Cafiero took the almanac as the starting point for her exploration of the infinite possibilities of the photographic medium. In a constellation of images, produced by an array of renderings and techniques, she picks up on various topics, sub-topics and related ruminations that inspire this near-biblical work of yesteryear. Cafiero depicts twinkling stars, menacing beasts, and superstitions re-imagined in the age of artificial intelligence. Her work also includes several series of documentary-style photographs, such as a catalogue of the wheat varieties grown in Vaud and aerial shots of the canton taken from a weather balloon equipped with GoPro cameras. This same tension between art and science is evident in Cafiero’s examination of the anatomical wax models long used as teaching aids in medical schools, as well as in her reproductions of original engravings from the almanac. Ultimately, Ephemeris is a reflection on the limits of our perception and on our relationship with reality, challenging the aphorism, printed in The Messager Boiteux, according to which “there is no sun for the blind, no thunder for the deaf.” text of the exhibition by Lydia Dorner for the Enquête photographique vaudoise, at Photo Elysée Lausanne from 28.08-28.09.2025
Detail of the installation's view, Photo Elysée Lausanne, 2025
