Explorers of immersive imagery and storytelling, Camille de Dieu and Laurent Novac from Studio Z1 once again take over the elevators of the Mont-Blanc Centre Plaza with Gone South, a video capsule inspired by the iconic road movie Thelma & Louise.

On view until the end of November 2025, this installation transforms the elevators into containers for a sensory and introspective journey—through desert landscapes, escape, complicity, and imagined freedom. Balancing between cinematic tribute and contemporary reinterpretation, Gone South explores the shifting grounds of emancipation through bold, immersive visual narration.

In November 2024, during the official inauguration of the space, Geneva-based artists Studio Z1 were invited to present a performance. For the occasion, they chose an unexpected muse from Western cinema: the tumbleweed. This resilient plant, once a simple weed, has become an enduring symbol of the American West—evoking wide-open landscapes, classic cowboy films, and the idea of venturing into the unknown.

Biography of Studio Z1

Born in 1986, Camille de Dieu and Laurent Novac founded Studio Z1 in 2016 to unite their personal experiences around sound, light and space. Camille de Dieu explores different materials and techniques including mapping, 3D modeling and ceramics. Laurent Novac’s research is oriented towards live performance and treats sound creation not only as accompaniment but as a source generating visual effects. Both artists and engineers, they produce installations and performances in real time as well as live audiovisuals which mix scientific references and fiction. Their virtual landscapes rely on extremely varied devices, from a screen on a circular rail that the public activates by moving it (with “Ever’ett”) to immersive walks based on data collected in forests, caves and grassy areas ( for “Otium” and “Otiosi”). Camille de Dieu and Laurent Novac are both guest professors at HEAD Geneva and at EPFL (Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne).

Link: website Studio Z1