Deauville. The beach. The casino. And pictures. After the cinema festival last month, photography will take center stage during the festival Planche(s) Contact, which opens tomorrow (planches is a play on words in French les planches in Deauville are the boardwalk, and also sheets as in contact sheets in photography).
What sets this festival apart from others is that all of the exhibitions are being presented here for the first time. Philippe Augier, the mayor of Deauville, explains that the photographers were invited to submit their vision of the city: “For three years now each of the invited photographers has come to discover, and become attuned with, the imposed subject : Deauville. This approach, which constitutes the artistic direction of the festival, brings to light an astonishing diversity of viewpoints, on the town, its inhabitants, its architecture and its regular events. The images might be poetic or quirky, strange or dream-like, nostalgic or futuristic. Year after year, they renew the photographic memory of Deauville, immortalized since the end of the 19th century by the great names in photography.”
For this third edition, six professional photographers and students in photography came to Deauville for a residency. This is how the festival’s artistic director, Patrick Remy, presents the invited photographers: “We have called upon photographers who one usually see in magazines (but also in galleries and museums), such as Paolo Roversi, a « fashion portraitist », as he likes to define himself, and an unquestionable star of the genre for more than twenty years. Alongside him, the younger generation is represented by the Canadian Kourtney Roy, who stages herself in her images and plays with the nostalgia of the 60s with brio. Simon Procter, a lover of horses, has spectacularly captured three of the town’s more privileged equestrian moments. Tania and Vincent also diffuse their inspired still-lives in magazines or for luxury brands. Finally, the laureate of last year’s Louis Roederer Foundation prize, Kate Fichard, who doesn’t work for magazines –but it can only be a matter of time–, continues to explore Deauville with her sharp and pertinent eye. A long way from magazines, Filip Dujardin, with a humor worthy of the Belgian surrealists whose heritage he claims , has metamorphosed the architecture and landscapes of Deauville: ferocious ! ”
Like last year, with the support of the Fondation Louis Roederer, a prize will be awarded to one of the students. The jury will be presided over by Bettina Rheims in person. Something new this year is an alternative “off” of the festival, made of fifteen exhibitions. Michel Tréhet’s black-and-white photographs and Béatrice Lagarde’s landscapes will offer yet another vision of Deauville.
Finally, don’t forget to set your watches back, because this weekend is daylight saving. To mark this transition to wintertime, a photo contest has been organized by Swatch. On Saturday night/Sunday morning, amateur and professional photographers will capture this “25th hour”. More information is available here.
Juliette Deschodt
Planche(s) Contact
Festival de Photographie de Deauville
October 27 to December 2, 2012
14800 Deauville
France
