Planches Contact Festival
Planches Contact Festival
Everywhere, the word looms large. In political debates, social divisions, family conversations. It speaks of what is passed on or lost. A memory. Anger. A dream.
And then there are the images that linger. Those that stand the test of time, that connect people, that tell the story of what came before us and what will outlive us.
Two hundred years ago, Nicéphore Niépce sparked a revolution by opening a window onto the world. Since then, photography has been a constant companion. Everything passes, changes, fades away: faces, bodies, landscapes, nations. Yet a photograph remains. It reappears in a forgotten box, on the wall of a house or in a phone’s memory. And suddenly someone recognises a gaze, a light, a story. Photography forges links between people, between eras, between generations.
For the past seventeen years, the Planches Contact Festival has been inviting photographers to come and create in Normandy. Some arrive with a sense of intuition, others with a long-standing obsession. Emerging artists rub shoulders with leading figures in contemporary photography.
Then the landscape comes to life. A road in the early morning. An unexpected encounter. Light out of season. A landscape that defies the obvious.
The images appear.
This year, Générations is the central theme running through the entire festival.
Family archives are being unearthed from drawers. Young people are seeking their place in a world beset by climate, social and geopolitical uncertainties. Some artists are turning to old images to make sense of the present. Others are observing what is already in the process of disappearing. But everywhere, too, a new energy is emerging: the energy to communicate in new ways, to invent new ways of inhabiting the world, of creating, and of building society.
This edition is also part of the The Bicentenary of Photography, an international celebration of an invention that has profoundly transformed our relationship with reality. Two hundred years after its inception, photography remains a tool for memory, testimony, creativity and freedom.
At a time when the working conditions for photographers are becoming increasingly precarious, Planches Contact reaffirms its commitment to contemporary art.
Artist residencies, the Young Artists’ Award, support for emerging artists, and support for long-term projects: the festival opens up a world of possibilities, experimentation and knowledge-sharing, where different generations of artists engage in dialogue and inspire one another.
This year, the festival is hosting, among others Bruce Gilden, a leading figure in American photography and a member of Magnum Photos. His monumental exhibition will take place on Deauville beach and will complement that of Cristina de Middel, the current chair of Magnum. Their work resonates with the history of this legendary agency and with the project Generation X, launched in the 1950s by the founders of Magnum, offering a unique insight into past and present generations.
And then there’s Tehran.
Following on from Beirut in 2025, Planches Contact is continuing its off-site residency in Iran.
In a country undergoing profound change, an artist continues to produce images that capture the youth, aspirations and upheavals of a society in flux. Her work reminds us that, throughout the world, photography remains a space for freedom and resistance.
In Deauville, the festival takes place at Les Franciscaines, Le Point de Vue, on the beach and in public spaces, close to the very locations where the images were captured. Exhibitions, talks, portfolio reviews, performances, screenings and workshops invite everyone to discover photography in all its forms.
Two hundred years after its invention, photography continues to bridge generations, pass on stories and shed light on the world to come.
Together with the whole team at Planches Contact Festival and Les Franciscaines, we are delighted to welcome you this autumn to share this new photographic adventure with us.
