Fotografia Europea 2009 sees the inauguration of a partnership with the Rencontres d'Arles, one of the most important photography festivals in the world, which this year is celebrating its fortieth edition. The exhibition “Kommunalka”, produced in Arles last summer and presented here in a revisited version curated by Laura Serani , is the result of this new cooperation, which confirms Reggio Emilia as an important player in the current photography scene.

Through more than sixty exhibitions installed in various locations of exceptional heritage in the city of Arles, every year, for forty years now, the “Rencontres d’Arles” contribute to passing on the world’s photographic heritage and aims to be the cradle of contemporary creation, with the “Prix Découverte offering a forum for new talent ”. Since 1970, the Rencontres d’Arles have largely contributed to the recognition of photography as an artistic expression, and to the training of the skills of many professional and amateur photographers. Thanks to its programming of mainly unique events, the Rencontres d’Arles have become a reference festival of international magnitude. The setting of the exhibitions becomes a veritable stage for certain historical places, some of them only open to the public during the festival. To be on the lookout for the evolution of the trends and approaches of the photographed subject and the plastic arts. To keep informed about new techniques which offer a different conception of photographic exhibition for a wider public, and a real relationship with the image. These are the missions of the Rencontres d’Arles.

 

During the week of the festival, conferences, debates and visits to the exhibitions are organised, inviting the participating photographers and other professionals involved to talk about their work or about the questions raised by the exhibited works. Joining photographers and theoreticians of the contemporary photography world, the Rencontres d’Arles conference takes a serious look at the specificity of photography, in artistic and technical terms but also in terms of cultural policy.

 

The week-long event takes place in a party atmosphere, with shows and projections in the ‘Théâtre Antique’ every evening, or in the form of a photographic promenade through the streets of Arles.