Arles flying high.

36TH RENCONTRES D'ARLES 2005

ARLES, FRANCE 

JULY 5-SEPTEMBER 18, 2005

This summer's 36th edition of Rencontres d'Arles offers an open program centered around a celebration of Brazilian photography. Since 1969 the Arles festival has advocated a broad approach to the photographic medium, international in its inspiration, scope and development as well as its pedagogic objectives, adding (and emulating) the American model of workshops to its exhibition program. Rencontres d'Arles president Francois Barre, in discussing his decision to give free rein to Francois Hebel, this year's director, stated in his introduction to the catalog:

   [T]his is the outcome of careful consideration of the national scene
   and of the forces at work inside the Rencontres.... We have to be
   ready to assert the Rencontres d'Arles' core role as a general
   festival open to everything that's happening in terms of output and
   experimentation. This in turn means not accepting the idea of
   separate audiences and ways of working, while at the same time
   sticking to a single criterion: creativity and quality. Arles remains
   the benchmark festival because it covers the entire photography
   spectrum.

This edition of Rencontres epitomizes what Hebel and Barre have brought to the festival: a new perspective--entertaining, challenging and educational. New sponsors have allowed the festival to decrease the proportion of public funds in its budget ($3,000,000 in 2005) from 90% in 2001 to 50% in 2005. Among these new sponsors, Hewlett-Packard has been highly active and visible in the festival for the past two years, offering free large-format prints and printing demonstrations as well as a series of presentations by guest lecturers (Douglas Kirkland presented this year, Joel Meyerowitz last year). The Graz Savoy insurance group and the FNAC group sponsor their own young photographer awards (the Graz Savoy Award and the FNAC European Prize). A new sponsor this year, the French wireless service provider SFR, also provided daily information and services related to the festival available via cell phones. As always, Leica sponsored the 2005 Oskar Barnack Award. Additional awards included the European Publishers Award and the four Prix des Rencontres in their second year (Discovery Award, Outreach Award, No Limit Award and Arles Book Award), created through funds donated by the Dakota investment group.

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There are four main themes for the 53 exhibitions, which are open until September 18 to allow school groups to visit. "A World Under Stress" includes Brazilian photographer Miguel Rio Branco's series "Gritos Surdos" (Muted Cries, n.d.) as well as work by fellow native Olhares Do Morro. (This is the year of "Brazil in France" and Brazilian culture is being celebrated in many venues around the country.) "A World Under Stress" also includes works by Barry Frydlender. Jacqueline Hassink and Christien Meindertsma as well as John Divola's "Dogs chasing my car in the desert" (2004). "Portraits" includes the William M. Hunt collection as well as work by Philippe Lopparelli, Mario Cravo Neto, Arthur Omar and Denis Rouvre. "Rediscoveries" includes work by Jean-Claude Gautrand, Keld Helmer-Petersen and Christer Stromholm, among others. The fourth theme is dedicated to a celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the first class graduating from the National School of Photography in Arles and was held in the magnificent Montmajour Abbey. Among those alumni, Jurgen Nefzger was nominated for the Arles Project Assistance Award 2005. Guest schools also showing are the Dusseldorf School in Germany and the International Center of Photography in New York City.

Another seven exhibitions were sponsored by the Mejan association, an old partner of Rencontres, including the work of Sarah Moon, artists from the Vu Gallery and a very interesting project by Meyer from the collective Tendance Floue entitled "Putain de maieutique camarguaise!" (n.d.). The 2005 event also offers more than 300 photography books in competition for the Arles Book Award, four evening screenings, more than 20 workshops, four conferences and several public debates on topics such as "Photography and Cultural Policies," "Photography: Crisis or Golden Age?," "Does Photography Have a National Identity?" and "Photography As Social Bond."

A real innovation happened on the night of July 8th when, inspired by a recipe that had proved to be extremely successful a few years ago for another festival, Le Printemps de Cahors, Rencontres organized La Nuit de l'Annee ("The Night of the Year"). From 10 p.m. until dawn, a popular quarter of Arles, La Roquette, a small labyrinth of narrow streets mainly dedicated to pedestrian traffic, opened its small squares and private yards to 26 screenings by photo agencies (AFP, Cosmos, Contrasto, Editing, Magnum, Rapho, Tendance Floue, Vu, Tango Photo), newspapers and magazines (Geo, Le Monde, Telerama, Liberation, Le Courrier International) and festivals (Moscow, Canton). Offering hundreds of images for viewing in one night, La Nuit de l'Annee was an overwhelming popular success.

Beside a deluge of images and an accumulation of events during the opening week of the festival, there was still more to watch at "Voies Off," the alternative Arles festival, which ran July 5-8. Voies Off was founded 10 years ago by Christophe Laloi, a former student at the Ecole Nationale de Photographie. Laloi still heads this alternative festival, which has grown increasingly more professional but retains a casual feel. Voies Off now has its own web site (www.voiesoff.com) and award. The 2005 laureates were Joakim Eneroth from Sweden and Josef Schulz from Germany. Every night, beginning at the same time as the "official" night screenings, and prolonging them. Voies Off held its own shows attended by hundreds of aficionados. Voies Off remains a showcase for young photographers, groups and schools. Creative approaches to the medium find there a perfect venue and audience.

BRUNO CHALIFOUR is a freelance critic and photographer, educator and PhD candidate.

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For more information about Rencontres d'Arles see www.rencontres-arles.com.