The path from Eurolactis to Cybel’Art is more than a change of field. It reflects a sustained conviction: when material or human presence matters, technology should help retain its richness rather than install an imitation in its place.
A principle shaped at Eurolactis
In 2008, Pierluigi Christophe Orunesu founded Eurolactis, a Swiss company focused on processing and distributing donkey milk internationally. The challenge was to circulate a delicate product without reducing it to a synthetic stand-in. Research carried out in Italy supported the development of gentler freeze-drying processes, intended to respect the original material as closely as possible.
The account recalls several milestones from that period: a partnership with Inter Milan in 2011; a 2014 donation of donkey foals and freeze-dried milk to Pope Francis for Vatican hospitals; and a 2016 collaboration with chocolatier Gérard Fornerod on the “Quartier des Ânes” bar. These episodes are not presented as health claims. They show a continuing effort to remain faithful to the source product.
From material to human presence
That same concern later found a digital expression. Amid the growth of synthetic avatars and generated images, Cybel’Art favours recording a real person over generatively reconstructing one. The purpose is not to declare absolute authenticity, but to keep the connection visible between a digital work and the moment an artist was recorded.
“We humanize digital, but we never digitalize the human.”
This principle informs Cybel’Art’s approach: technology is used to carry a presence, not to erase its origin. It also belongs within the broader field of augmented and virtual reality, where context and how an experience is encountered matter alongside the image itself.
Capture before rendering
For the artists named in the original article, including Philippe Entremont and Henri Dès, the described process begins with 360-degree volumetric video recorded through a ring of 42 synchronised cameras. The resulting data is then rendered with Gaussian Splatting, a representation and rendering method that can convey volume rather than a flat projection. This is the context for the icologram®, designed for viewing in native augmented reality.
The same care informs Virtual Hall®, with project credits retained for the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (OSR) and Real Illusions. This describes a creative and distribution direction; it is neither a certification of authenticity nor a claim of universal current availability.
Continuity, not a pivot
From donkey milk to volumetric art, the through-line is a preference for a recorded original, carefully processed and made accessible through contemporary tools. For Cybel’Art, innovation is not about replacing reality with a cheaper substitute. It is about finding ways to transmit what is real without losing its particularity.
Editorial adaptation of the article by Pierluigi Christophe Orunesu, originally published on Substack on 11 August 2026. Read the original article on Substack