ABOUT  JIMEI X ARLES

 

The 8th Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival has been successfully held in Xiamen from November 25, 2022 to January 3, 2023 and has showcased new international photography works!

 

Three Shadows Photography Art Centre has been working closely with Les Rencontres d’Arles since 2015 to found the International Photo Festival in Xiamen’s Jimei District, jointly organised by Three Shadows Photography Art Centre and Xiamen Tianxia Jimei Media Co., Ltd. Jimei x Arles introduces excellent overseas photography works with an open and inclusive attitude, synchronising with the freshest international vision; works with various experts and institutions to explore the creative power of Chinese photography, facilitates the dissemination of excellent contemporary photography works and continues to promote them on the international stage. Since its founding, Jimei x Arles has presented more than 200 exhibitions from China and the rest of Asia, as well as a selection of excellent shows from Les Rencontres d’Arles. To date, the festival has attracted 400,000 visitors.

 

Since 2020, Christoph Wiesner, director of Les Rencontres d’Arles, and RongRong, Chinese contemporary photographer and co-founder of Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, have been serving as Co-Directors, with noted photography critic Gu Zheng serving as Art Director. The 8th Jimei x Arles will present 30 exhibitions, featuring works by more than one hundred artists from France, Thailand, Brazil, the United States and mainland China: six “Exhibitions from Arles” selected from 2022 Les Rencontres d’Arles, ten “Discovery Awards” exhibitions focusing on outstanding young Chinese artist photographers, three “Greetings from Thailand” exhibitions, one “China Pulse” exhibition showing the exploration and development of Chinese higher art colleges in photography, three “Crossover Photography” exhibitions, one “Tribute” exhibition, one “Collector’s Tale” exhibition, two “Local Action” exhibitions, one Jimei x Arles “Group Exhibition of the Finalists’ Proposals for Curatorial Award for Photography and Moving Image”, one photography exhibition “THE HORIZON”, and one “Jimei x Arles Photobook Exhibition”.

 

Two major awards of this year’s Jimei x Arles were announced during the opening week. Artist Tan Chui Mui, nominated by curator Wang Yiquan, won the 2022 “Jimei x Arles Discovery Award” for her exhibition “Just Because You Pressed the Shutter?”, and the award-winning exhibition will be invited to 2023 Les Rencontres d’Arles. Besides, Curator Wang Shuman won this year’s “Jimei x Arles Curatorial Award for Photography and Moving Image” for her project “The New Survivors”, and she will start her academic research, exchange and other educational programmes supported by the Award in 2023.

 

During this year’s Jimei x Arles, nearly a hundred public educational programmes and activities, including lectures, panel talks, artists and curators sharing sessions, art appreciation classes, contemporary photography workshops and so on, have been successfully held for art lovers. We also collaborated with creators and researchers in the art field from diverse disciplines to organise crossover activities such as photobook workshops, art fairs, immersive theatres, live performances, film screenings, and art parties.