This workshop is designed to make full use of the opportunities provided by the opening week of the Rencontres d’Arles: its exhibitions, night projections, presentations, visits of exhibitions by their authors or/and curators, panel discussions; the presence of photographers and curators from around the world.
The general goal of this workshop is to help all get a better and deeper understanding of photography, from the very moment when a photograph originated in the photographer’s mind to its reception by an audience with all the esthetic, ethical, cultural, and socio-political issues at play.
Bruno Chalifour has been coming to and writing about the festival for over 15 years. For years he has observed reactions in the audience of the festival and decided to design this workshop with several objectives in mind:
1-help visitors, amateurs and professionals alike, understand and appreciate the works that are shown, as well as the decisions made by the curators and the festival.
2-offer perspectives, criteria, and a framework to assess photographs, and exhibitions.
3-provide context to the images based on his knowledge of the history of photography, the state of contemporary art scene, the festival itself so that his students learn about the history of photography through their experiences of the festival.
4-use the opportunities provided by the festival (the number and variety of works exhibited, the night projections, the presence of world-renowned photographers, curators, historians, critics) to expand one’s understanding and appreciation of photography as a major art form and means of communication in our time.
5-develop a vocabulary, and concepts specific to the field of art criticism.
The workshops will address:
-The challenges met in the making of photographs that matter, as well as in the various ways of showing them (magazine, book, exhibition, web)
-The parallel histories of American and European photography and their impact on the now global scene of fine art photography
-The specific themes and types of photography displayed this year during the festival.
This workshop is designed for all audiences and levels: the general public, photographers (amateurs or professionals), teachers, critics, all who want to build skill and knowledge, and discuss the medium. Students are invited to bring their own portfolios for discussion by the group.
