The 51st International Meeting of Photography in Arles, which was scheduled to take place from June 29 to September 20, has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the festival's board of directors announced on Wednesday April 29.

"Faced with the impossibility of producing the exhibitions, equipping the premises, faced with the interruption of international trade, and taking into account the new recommendations of the government, we must give up organizing the 2020 edition of the Rencontres d'Arles ", writes the board in a statement. 

It is the first time in their history that the Meetings have been canceled since their first edition in 1970. Having become one of the main photo festivals in the world, the Meetings have enjoyed worldwide popular success. From 60,000 visitors in 2008, attendance rose to 145,000 in 2019.

After the cancellation of the Easter Feria, it was another blow for the city of Arles, a former working-class city hit by deindustrialisation, now turned towards tourism.

"Never has a decision been so difficult to make," writes in its press release the board of directors of Les Rencontres, claiming to have "considered all the scenarios" and made this decision "in order to preserve the future" of Les Rencontres. The artists and curators will in particular receive their "exhibition rights", he adds.

The theme of the festival was to be resistance

Thirty-five exhibitions were planned for this edition which had the theme of resistance, mixing photography, collages and cinema.

By presenting the program, on March 12, five days before the announcement of confinement by the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, its director, Sam Stourdzé, had sensed that this 51st edition could, like other public events, suffer the consequences of the spread of Covid-19 and indicated "already put all the solutions in place to accommodate the public".

This edition was the last for Sam Stourdzé, specialist in photography, who took the helm of Les Rencontres in 2014 and was appointed, at the beginning of March, to the management of the Villa Medici in Rome.

In half a century, more than a thousand exhibitions have brought together some 1,600 artists, and 26 artistic directors have succeeded at the head of the event.

The budget of 7.8 million euros is divided between patronage, subsidies and ticketing. The festival, free for Arles residents, generates, according to the municipality, 22 million euros in economic benefits from 100,000 visitors.

In France, most of the summer festivals had to be canceled, notably in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region: the Cannes International Film Festival, the Aix-en International Lyric Art Festival -Provence, the Avignon International Theater Festival, the Orange Chorégies. The Annecy International Animated Film Festival adds to this long list.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Édouard Philippe announced the ban on events gathering more than 5,000 people at least until September.

With AFP

The France 24 week summary invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you! Download the France 24 app

google-play-badge_FR