Nonante-neuf talks and Spotlights scène suisse
The Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia is putting Swiss photographers in the spotlight and stirring up an exciting debate in the welcoming environs of the ancient Mistral college, in a programme devised by the specialist Sascha Renner.
The Nonante-neuf talks and Spotlights scène suisse will take place during the opening week of Les Rencontres d’Arles, from Tuesday to Friday, 4 to 6 pm, as part of the lecture programme organised by Cosmos-Arles Books, The Eyes magazine and Pro Helvetia.
They will be presented by Sascha Renner, director of Coalmine (forum for documentary photography) in Winterthur, art critic and former culture editor for the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper and SRF 2 Culture radio. On Tuesday 5 July, you will have the chance to meet Swiss photographer Dominic Nahr who is internationally renowned for his reporting from conflict zones. His exhibition 'Fractured State', held by the Swiss Foundation of Photography in Winterthur, is part of the Rencontres festival associated programme. Taking part in the debate on 'Invisible war. Consumption, censorship and the rhetorics of compassion in conflict photography' are Christoph Bangert, a German photographer whose work encourages critical debate on conventional views of war and Caroline Recher, curator at the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne, whose research focuses on how victims are represented in photography and art. After the lecture Spotlight scène suisse will focus on the Swiss association for contemporary photography NEAR.
After listening to the panel discussion on Wednesday 6 July you will never see surveillance cameras the same way again. The debate on 'Gain and loss of control: from documentation to surveillance' promises to be more than lively. Taking part are Jules Spinatsch, a Swiss photographer who created the Surveillance Panorama Projects based on images taken with network cameras; Joerg Bader, whose profile includes working as curator of the 50JPG Triennale, the 2016 edition of which is called 'Caméra(Auto)Contrôle'; and Salvatore Vitale, photographer and editor-in-chief of Yet magazine, whose latest issue discusses the issue of control. The panel will be followed by Spotlight scène suisse introducing Aaluägä, the editorial projet of Swiss photographers Anne Golaz and Myriam Ziehli.
Do exhibitions still make sense in today's digital age? On Thursday 7 July come and listen to the panellists discussing this topic – Marco de Mutiis, digital curator at the Fotomuseum Winterthur and creator of the new exhibition format 'SITUATION' there since 2015; photographer and conceptual artist Joan Fontcuberta, who curated the 2015 edition of the Mois de la Photo à Montréal on the subject of 'The post-photographic condition'; and Erik Kessels, a Dutch artist and curator who explores everyday photography as a creative resource. Spotlight scène suisse follows with the P3 Post-Photography Prototyping Prize launched by Duncan Forbes, director of the Fotomuseum Winterthur, in collaboration with the Julius Baer Foundation.
Sascha Renner will wrap up the week's panel series on Friday 8 July to talk about 'Farce, re-enactment, research: narratives beyond the documentary' with Romain Mader, a Swiss photographer whose work combines documentary images with fiction; Aron Mörel, founder of Mörel Books, and Yann Gross, winner of the 2015 Luma Rencontres Dummy Book Award, who will present his new project 'The Jungle Show'. The final Spotlight scène suisse will be devoted to the VFG Swiss Young Talent Award vfg – association of creative photographers.
The Nonante-neuf talks are organised by The Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.
Download the full programme of the Nonante-neuf talks
