In its 48th year, Les Rencontres d’Arles photography festival takes place once again this summer and offers an extensive program of exhibitions, lectures, workshops, portfolio reviews and presentations.

With approximately 40 exhibitions across 25 sites and with 250 artists, this edition promises to be the most innovative yet. With the opening of Ground Control and the Mistral, there are two new exhibition sites on Émile-Combes Boulevard in 2017.

This 48th issue of les Rencontres d’Arles will lead us « from the local to the global ». Various sections titled “The Experience of Territory,” “World Disorders,” and “I Am Writing to You From a Far-Off Country,” will take you to the heart of Colombia, immerse you in a new Spanish generation, introduce you to the sideways glance in Iranian photography—all in a sweeping journey to the heart of busy and complex geopolitics.

“The more we think about closed countries, plunged into political and economic crises, the more the photographers are there”, says Sam Stourdzé (Director Of The Rencontres D’arles). “They reveal, describe, demonstrate, invent, repair, build, in their own language, that of the image. They decipher the preliminary signs of societies in upheaval.”

As 2017 is France-Colombia year one focus of this year’s festival will be the section LATINA! with a special presentation of Colombia. Four separate shows will shine a spotlight on different aspects of Colombian photography, from “Urban Impulses” to “A Poetics of the Human.” Exhibitions such as « La Vuelta » (Colombian slang referring to an illegal mission) will feature the work of 28 artists and spanning several generations. La Vache et L’orchidee [“the cow and the orchid”], meanwhile looks at vernacular photography from Colombia, and is curated by Timothy Prus from the influential Archive of Modern Conflict.

Another important national focus falls on Iran, which will have 62 of its photographers highlighted in a massive survey exhibition titled “Iran, année 38.”

Le Centre Pompidou will celebrate it’s 40th anniversary with an exhibition on Surrealism including works by Hans Bellmer, Erwin Wurm and Rene Magritte.

Matthieu Pernot will showcases his decades-long relationship with a local Roma family in his exhibition “The Gorgons.” Niels Ackermann and Sébastien Gobert tell the story of Lenin’s place in modern-day Russia through specific visual anecdotes in their series “Looking for Lenin.” And Roger Ballen takes us into the depths of his own mind in his immersive show “The House of Ballenesque.” Also on view are solo shows by Joel Meyerowitz, Michael Wolf, Gideon Mendel, Masahisa Fukase and many others …

As in each year, Rencontres offers the Photo Book Awards, currently based on three categories: Author Book Award, Photo-Text Book Award and Historical Book Award. The photofestival exhibits the books that have been shortlisted for the award (announced on June 26), and the winners will be announced during opening week, on Tuesday, July 4th at 10pm at The Théâtre Antique.

Les Rencontres d’Arles Photofestival opens in Arles on July 3, 2017. The opening week takes place from Monday July 3 – Sunday July 9.

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www.rencontres-arles.com