LUMA – the Swiss "Arlesienne"

Arles, its arenas, its Alyscamps... and since 2021, also its LUMA Tower, which has transformed the city's skyline. Blue skies, reflections of chrome, surreal 3D puzzles, interior walls of salt... The Tower, built on a former industrial site that has become Parc des Ateliers, was designed by American-Canadian architect Frank Gehry. But this «interdisciplinary creative campus» is the brainchild of the LUMA Foundation, created in 2004 by Swiss businesswoman, producer and patron Maja Hoffmann, whose great-grandfather founded the Hoffmann-La Roche laboratories. And whose father, Luc Hoffmann, a passionate ornithologist, founded the Tour du Valat Research Institute for the Conservation of Mediterranean Wetlands in 1954, in the heart of the nearby Camargue. Maja Hoffmann has been President of the Locarno Film Festival since the end of 2023.