Preview:
Les Rencontres
d'Arles Photography Festival 2011


Following an international political gaffe, the funding was suddenly pulled for a well-planned major overview of Mexican photography for this year's festival. So, that's a big disappointment for all of us.

Nevertheless, after much scrambling and good intentions, 120,000 square meters of exhibition space will be filled with a grab-bag of photography. Maybe that's a good thing, but you never know until you get there. The exhibitions seem to have many divergent themes.

Frédéric Mitterrand, French Minister of Culture and Communication, tries to acknowledge this approach diplomatically in his opening remarks:

“Putting the programme for Arles together each year is a complex undertaking, a kind of alchemy that has not a little of the collage about it, the subtlety of haute cuisine allied to a sense of showmanship.”

Jean-Noël Jeanneney, president of the Rencontres d’Arles, puts it another way:

“The 2011 programme … I think I can say is as dense, eclectic, and daring as it ever has been. …  I am particularly eager to visit the From Here On exhibition which focuses on how photography is used online. This exhibition was conceived thanks to the great expertise of Martin Parr, Clément Chéroux, Joan Fontcuberta, Joachim Schmid and Erik Kessels; it opens the door to a fascinating future and new fields of communication.”

We're presenting here a preview of more than 40 photographs that will appear this year in Arles.

As always, we are looking forward to finding some unexpected and exciting discoveries at the Arles Off Festival, Voies Off.





Rencontres d'Arles 2011
Opening Days July 4 to 10
Exhibitions July 4 to September 18, 2011.