Press Conference | Jimei x Arles in Shanghai !

2017 Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival programme announced!

Press conference for the 3rd Jimei Arles International Photography Festival was held successfully on 10:00 AM, 7 September 2017 at the residence of French Consul General in Shanghai. More than 50 representatives from the media, 20 representatives from the government, as well as guests from the art and publishing circle were present. At the press conference, the French Consul General in Shanghai gave welcome remarks, while TANG Jinfu, Deputy Director of Public Relations of Jimei District, Xiamen introduced his city and the success of the first two festivals. Afterwards, Sam Stourdzé, director of the Rencontres d'Arles, co-founder of Jimei x Arles international photo festival, RongRong, Founder of the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, co-founder of Jimei x Arles international photo festival, and Bérénice Angremy, Director of this year’s photo festival, each introduced the audience to exhibitions and activities of the opening week of this year’s festival.

Alex Cruau, Consul General of France in Shanghai

TANG Jinfu, Deputy Director of Public Relations of Jimei District, Xiamen

The third Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival will take place in Xiamen (south of China) from November25, 2017 to January 3, 2018. Co-created by Sam Stourdzé, the director off amous international photo festival Rencontres d’Arles (France), and Chinese photographer RongRong (also the founder of Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, China’s first ever professional art center dedicated to photography), Jimei x Arles features international artists selected from Rencontres d’Arles alongside Chinese and Asian photography talents. The festival has attracted more than 100,000 visitors since its inception in 2015.

Bérénice Angremy, director of Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival

In 2017, the two founders of the Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival appointed Bérénice Angremy as festival director (Doors 门艺 Art & Culture Agency), co-founder of art festivals DIAF (2004-2007) and Caochangdi Photospring – Arles in Beijing (2010-2012), and former cultural attaché at the French embassy in China (2012-2017).

Sam Stourdzé, director of the Rencontres d'Arles, co-founder of Jimei x Arles international photo festival

The 2017 festival will boast the works of more than 150 artists from the United States, France, Iran, Spain, the Netherlands, Indonesia, and of course China. The festival’s aim of providing a platform for new Chinese photography has once again been re-affirmed with several exhibitions showcasing young Chinese photographers and curators. The 21 exhibitions of 2017 Jimei x Arles attest to the diversity of photographic approaches and practices, and will include:

An actress falls back into her armchair after filming a heated domestic argument with her on screen husband on the set of As Time Goes By, Istanbul, 2013

- 8 exhibitions from Rencontres d’Arles 2017: Early Works by Joel Meyerowitz, Superfacial by Audrey Tautou, The Gorgans by Mathieu Pernot, Iran, Year 38 with 66 Iranian photographers, Stories of the Immediate Present by the Spanish collective Blank Paper, Retracing Our Steps, Fukushima Exclusion Zone - 2011-2016 by New Discovery Award Winners – Carlos Ayesta & Guillaume Bression (presented by Le 247 gallery), The Parallele State by New Discovery Award Nominee – Guy Martin (presented by nineteensixtyeight Gallery), The 2017 Book Awards;

Hu Weiyi, Flirt series, 2014

- 4 China Pulse exhibitions curated by young Chinese curators and China photography specialists: Uncertain Traces (curated by Du Xiyun), To be an image maker (curated by He Jing), BrokenIce: 160118-170811 (curated by Ruben Lundgren), Phantom Pain Clinic (curated by Shen Chen);

Feng Li, White Night series, 2017

- 10 Jimei x Arles Discovery Award nominees picked by five young curators: Guo Yingguang and Jiang Yuxin (curated by He Yining), Shao Wenhuan and Yu Mo (curated by Liu Tian), Deng Yun and the real (curated by Nie Xiaoyi), Yu Feifei and Siu Wai Hang (curated by Tang Zehui), Feng Li and Sun Yanchu (curated by Thomas Sauvin). The winner of the 2017 Jimei x Arles Discovery Award will be awarded a 200,000 RMB prize and an exhibition in 2018 Rencontres d’Arles;

- Local Action exhibitions curated by Xiamen curators Chen Wei (After the Ebb) and Wang Qi (Social Images);

RongRong, Founder of the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, co-founder of Jimei x Arles international photo festival

-   A solo show of Chinese photography master Wang Wusheng;

-  2 Greetings From Indonesia exhibitions showcasing the vitality of contemporary Indonesian photography;

-  A Collector’s Tale exhibition showing a prominent collector’s Chinese photography treasures.

Jimei xArles aims at strengthening its role as a platform for photography in Asia. Along with the exhibition program, a number of events are organized for photography professionals, art lovers and the public during the Opening Week (November 25-December 2nd): the Photobook fair, the Photo Folio Review, a Photography Seminar, the ‘Arles Night of the Year’, university lectures, discussion panels, art performances and guided tours.

With two main sites in Xiamen’s Jimei District and several other sites in the city, the festival aims to connect and animate separated cultural areas and spaces, to relay and promulgate different art forms through the city.

Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival is co-produced by Xiamen’s Jimei District and Three Shadows Photography Art Centre.

Special thanks

To the French Consulate-General and to the Consul-General for generous providing his residence for holding of our event; 

To Jimei District government, Xiamen for strong support;

And to the partners of the press conference, the French Embassy and Crédit Agricole!