Arles - Les Rencontres de la Photographie 2026

Name: Arles - Les Rencontres de la Photographie 2026
Start: 2026-07-06
End: 2026-10-04
Location: Arles

Jul 6, 2026 – Oct 4, 2026

Arles

Arles, France

Les Rencontres d'Arles is one of the most prestigious and influential photography festivals in the world. Founded in 1970 by photographer Lucien Clergue, writer Michel Tournier, and historian Jean-Maurice Rouquette, the festival takes place every summer in the historic city of Arles, France. Over the decades, it has become a premier platform for showcasing contemporary photography, attracting artists, curators, collectors, and photography enthusiasts from around the globe.

What sets Les Rencontres d'Arles apart is its expansive and immersive approach to photography. Rather than being confined to a single venue, the festival transforms Arles’ heritage sites, abandoned buildings, churches, warehouses, and museums into exhibition spaces. This integration of photography with the city’s architecture creates a distinctive atmosphere where history and modernity intersect.

Each year, the festival presents dozens of exhibitions, covering a diverse range of themes, styles, and photographic techniques. From documentary and reportage photography to experimental and conceptual works, Les Rencontres d'Arles offers a comprehensive view of the evolving photography landscape. The festival also serves as a launchpad for emerging talent, often introducing groundbreaking artists who later gain international recognition.

In addition to exhibitions, Les Rencontres d'Arles hosts an array of talks, portfolio reviews, workshops, and panel discussions, providing invaluable networking and learning opportunities for professionals and aspiring photographers. The Discovery Award, one of the festival’s highlights, recognizes promising photographers whose work pushes creative and conceptual boundaries.

Beyond its artistic significance, Les Rencontres d'Arles has played a key role in preserving and promoting the cultural legacy of photography, fostering dialogues between generations of artists and challenging conventional perspectives on the medium. Each edition reinvents itself, ensuring that the festival remains a vital force in the global photography community.

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Feb 05, 2026 – Mar 01, 2026

Exposure Photography Festival
Calgary, Canada

Exposure Photography Festival 2026 returns to Calgary and Banff, offering a month-long celebration of photography from across Alberta and beyond. Running across 30 venues from May through June, the festival brings together over 250 artists in a city-wide exploration of the medium. From galleries and museums to DIY spaces and community hubs, Exposure transforms Calgary into a dynamic canvas where audiences can engage with both established and emerging photographic practices. The festival emphasiz

Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions 2026

Feb 06, 2026 – Feb 23, 2026

Top Museum
Tokyo, Japan

Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions 2026 returns to Tokyo from February 6 to 23, reaffirming its position as a vital winter rendezvous for photography, film, and experimental visual culture. Rooted in the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, the festival draws from a long-standing institutional commitment to questioning how images are made, circulated, and understood. Since its opening in 1995, the museum has served as a gateway between historical innovation and contemporary ex

2025/2026 Chaumont-Photo-sur-Loire

Nov 23, 2025 – Feb 22, 2026

Domain of Chaumont-sur-Loire
Chaumont-sur-Loire, France

Since its acquisition by the Centre Region in 2007, the Domain of Chaumont-sur-Loire has become one of the Loire Valley’s most captivating destinations. Once a historic estate, it has evolved into a vibrant cultural landmark that harmoniously combines heritage, art, and landscape design. Its growing international reputation has made it a must-see location on the Loire châteaux circuit, admired for both its historical depth and contemporary creativity. Today, the Domain presents a unique threefol

Photo Brussels Festival 2026

Jan 22, 2026 – Feb 22, 2026

Brussels
Brussels, Belgium

Launched in 2016 by Hangar, the PhotoBrussels Festival has established itself as a premier event for contemporary photography, welcoming enthusiasts, professionals, and industry leaders for a month-long celebration of the medium. To enhance its reach and coordination, a dedicated committee was formed in 2022, comprising prominent Brussels-based cultural institutions including Atelier Contraste, box galerie, Contretype, L’Enfant Sauvage, Fondation A Stichting, Hangar, and La Nombreuse. As a key p

Festival Images & Neige 2026

Jan 30, 2026 – Feb 01, 2026

Cluses
Cluses, France

The town of Cluses, nestled in the heart of Haute-Savoie, will host the 16th edition of the Images & Neige photography festival on January 30, 31, and February 1, 2026, at the Parvis des Esserts. Each year, this beloved winter event draws between 3,000 and 4,000 visitors—including nearly 900 schoolchildren—to celebrate the beauty and challenges of cold climates through the art of photography. Dedicated to themes of snow, ecology, sport, nature, and adventure, the festival has become a highlight

Chobi Mela XI

Jan 16, 2026 – Jan 31, 2026

DrikPath Bhobon
Dhaka, Bangladesh

Chobi Mela, the first photography festival in Asia, remains one of the most ambitious initiatives created by Drik and Pathshala. Its inaugural edition took place between December 2000 and January 2001, establishing a biennial event that quickly became the most demographically inclusive photography festival in the world. Held every two years in Dhaka, it continues to serve as a vibrant platform for artists, audiences, and critical discussions. The next edition of Chobi Mela will return to Dhaka i

Site Santa Fe International

Jun 27, 2025 – Jan 13, 2026

Site Santa Fe
Santa Fe, NM, United States

The 12th SITE SANTA FE International, titled Once Within a Time, expands beyond the museum’s walls to embrace the entire city of Santa Fe. Partnering with local institutions and unexpected venues, the exhibition unfolds like a living narrative, inspired by a constellation of characters and stories rooted in the history and spirit of New Mexico. Curated by Cecilia Alemani, this ambitious edition blurs the boundaries between art, place, and storytelling, creating a dialogue between contemporary im

Bursa Fotofest 2026

Dec 12, 2025 – Jan 12, 2026

Bursa Metropolitan Municipality
Bursa, Turkey

Bursa Fotofest 2026 arrives as a powerful call to reflect, question, and reimagine through images. From December 12, 2025 to January 12, 2026, the 15th edition of this international photography festival in Turkey embraces the theme “Time of Rupture” — a theme meant to capture the fractures, tensions, and transformations permeating our global moment. This edition summons photographers and audiences alike to confront disruption, but also to seek renewal and hope. “Rupture” here is more than a brea

São Paulo Biennial

Sep 06, 2025 – Jan 11, 2026

Fundação Bienal de São Paulo
São Paulo, Brazil

The 36th Bienal de São Paulo – Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice opens on September 6, with free admission until January 11, 2026. With the opening of the exhibition, the Bienal also launches its public program, the Conjugations: a series of debates, gatherings, performances, and activations, some of which are developed in collaboration with cultural institutions from various parts of the world and presented at the Bienal Pavilion throughout the exhibition’s four-month run.

Indian Photo Festival 2025

Nov 20, 2025 – Jan 04, 2026

Light Craft Foundation
Hyderabad, India

The Indian Photo Festival returns with its 11th edition, reaffirming its role as one of India’s most vital platforms for photography and visual storytelling. As the country’s longest-running international photography festival, it brings together artists, audiences, and communities in a celebration of images that illuminate the world’s complexities and inspire meaningful reflection. Held from November 20 to January 4 at the State Gallery of Art in Madhapur and across multiple venues in Hyderabad,

Glaz Festival 2025

Nov 17, 2025 – Jan 04, 2026

Rennes
Rennes, France

Love and rebellion have always shared a complex and ambivalent bond—a relationship filled with desire, hope, transformation, and resistance. While love is often seen as tenderness or passion, it also embodies strength and defiance in the face of adversity. Rebellion, too, often perceived as violent, can become a gesture of unity and compassion. Contemporary photography stands at the heart of this dialogue, bearing witness to history while actively engaging with the social and emotional challenge

2025 Jimei × Arles International Photo Festival

Nov 29, 2025 – Jan 04, 2026

Three Shadows
Xiamen, China

The 11th edition of the Jimei × Arles International Photo Festival returns to Xiamen from November 29, 2025, to January 4, 2026, reaffirming its position as one of Asia’s most influential photography events. Since its inception in 2015, this festival has bridged the cultural dialogue between China and France through its enduring partnership with the world-renowned Rencontres d’Arles. Each year, Jimei × Arles transforms Xiamen’s Jimei District into a vibrant meeting ground for artists, curators,

Festival Planche(s) Contact

Oct 18, 2025 – Jan 04, 2026

Deauville
Deauville, France

The new edition of the Planches Contact Festival opens in Deauville under the banner of intimacy, a theme that resonates with the very vocation of photography: to capture the invisible, to reveal what is at play behind appearances. From the way we look at ourselves to the way we look at others, this year's exhibition explores the many forms of closeness, relationships, tensions and silence - in private spaces as well as in the landscape, in the body as well as in memory. This year, the festival

Harmattan - Togo Photo Festival 2025

Dec 12, 2025 – Dec 30, 2025

Lomé
Lomé, Togo

Harmattan – Togo Photo Festival 2025 stands as a vivid declaration: photography can reclaim and redefine the visual imagination of West Africa. From December 12 to 14, 2025, Lomé will become a convergence point for emerging and established photographers from Togo, West Africa, and beyond — gathering not just images, but dreams, histories, and new narratives that challenge old stereotypes and reshape perceptions. The festival’s collective exhibitions — hosted at Agnassan (Musée Paul Ahyi), Galeri

PHOTO IS:RAEL 2025

Nov 19, 2025 – Dec 19, 2025

PHOTO IS:RAEL
Tel-Aviv, Israel

PHOTO IS:RAEL is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the art of photography in Israel and around the world, guided by the vision of creating a better society through the language of photography. At the heart of its annual activity lies the International Photography Festival, one of Israel’s most significant cultural events, drawing tens of thousands of visitors each year. Now celebrating its twelfth edition, the festival takes on the theme “Voices”, inviting reflection on the intric

PhotoNOLA 2025

Dec 10, 2025 – Dec 14, 2025

Ogden Museum’s Taylor Library
New Orleans, LA, United States

PhotoNOLA returns this December with its 20th annual celebration of photography, transforming New Orleans into a vibrant hub of images, ideas, and community. From December 10 to 14, 2025, venues across the city — galleries, museums, pop-up spaces, and even outdoor sites — will host a wide variety of exhibitions, events, and public-facing projects. The festival’s spirit is both local and global: photographers from near and far bring their visions to the city, while locals share stories rooted in

PhotoKTM 6th Edition

Nov 14, 2025 – Dec 14, 2025

photo.circle
Kathmandu, Nepal

The 6th edition of PhotoKTM centers on the theme of Global South solidarities, inviting artists and audiences to reflect on the political and cultural legacies of the Third World project. The festival seeks to revisit histories of resistance, resilience, and collective action, examining how communities across the majority world have fought to reclaim sovereignty in the face of centuries of colonialism, exploitation, and structural violence. Through this lens, PhotoKTM emphasizes the ways in whic

Photo Days 2025

Nov 03, 2025 – Nov 30, 2025

Photo Days
Paris, France

Created in 2020, Photo Days unites all photography and video events taking place across Paris each November, transforming the city into a vast open celebration of the image. The initiative brings together institutions, galleries, fairs, auction houses, and a selection of private venues such as artists’ studios, laboratories, and collectors’ apartments, offering both professionals and enthusiasts a total immersion in photography at the very moment Paris becomes the world capital of the medium. Th

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From photography exhibitions and photo festivals to art fairs and gallery shows, these events are closing soon and still worth a visit. Whether you're an avid collector, a photography enthusiast, or simply looking for cultural inspiration, find the best photography events near you before they end.