The seventh Rencontres d'Arles curatorial research fellowship is awarded to Virginie Chardin for the retrospective project The world of Louis Stettner (1922-2016) and to Alessandra Chiericato for the project The cannibal image.

LE MONDE DE LOUIS STETTNER (1922-2016)
PROJET DE RÉTROSPECTIVE
Virginie Chardin
Born in Brooklyn in 1922, the son of Jewish immigrants from Czernowitz (now Chernivtsi, Ukraine), Louis Stettner created a prolific body of photographic work on both sides of the Atlantic. Close to New York's Photo League and post-war French humanist photography, he developed a lifelong passion for social and political struggles, the history of photography and the work of his contemporaries, and practiced various forms of expression (critical writings, poems, collages, sculpture, painting, films, recordings). Although his images are held in numerous public and private collections, his work remains little-known. The curatorial research project aims exhaustively to explore the archives left by the photographer and to create an unprecedented presentation of his work and world. Particular attention will be devoted to the staging of this project, bringing together the different media used by Louis Stettner.

ABOUT VIRGINIE CHARDIN
Virginie Chardin is a curator, author, and expert in the history of photography. She has curated the exhibitions Willy Ronis à Paris and Paris en couleurs, des frères Lumière à Martin Parr at the Hôtel de Ville de Paris, Images d'une capitale at the Folkwang Museum in Essen, Denis Darzacq at the Pavillon Carré de Baudoin, Pierre de Fenoÿl at Jeu de Paume, Tours, Sabine Weiss at Rencontres d'Arles and Casa dei Tre Oci in Venice, Antonin Personnaz at Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen and Musée Pissarro and Frank Horvat at Jeu de Paume Paris. She has been a project manager at the Musée Nicéphore-Niépce, in charge of the Rencontres d'Arles awards and a delegate for the Mois de la Photo in Paris. She is the author of the Photo-Poche volumes Séeberger Frères, Ernst Haas, Sabine Weiss and Frank Horvat.
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The cannibal image
Alessandra Chiericato
Between the virtual and the physical, The Cannibal Image submerges us on a journey into the depths of human existence, underlining the deceptive evidence of our way of understanding contemporary images. This curatorial research aims to delineate a potential embodiment of the image within the exhibition space, unveiling new horizons of meaning and interpretation. Drawing inspiration from Dante’s Inferno, particularly Canto XXXIII, The Cannibal Image endeavours to mingle diverse impulses and languages, revealing a space where order and chaos converge. This ambivalence fosters reflection on the portrayal of the body through the lens of photography. Through a fusion of mediums and interpretations, The Cannibal Image challenges conventional notions of identity, existence, and truth, offering a vast inquiry into the complexities of contemporary visual culture.

ABOUT ALESSANDRA CHIERICATO
Through exhibitions, residencies, conversations, screenings, and critical texts, the independent curator Alessandra Chiericato focuses on how we commonly relate to images, questioning their space of action and their boundaries. While exploring the notion of space, she is interested in the work of artists who investigate the representation of the body and the mechanisms of control.
She is the founder and Director of The Room Projects, a nomadic platform for experimenting with curatorial practice starting from creative spaces. Her recent exhibitions include Kensuke’s Room. Forever Mine by Kensuke Koike (SEPTIEME Gallery, Paris), Des récits et des histoires by Amado Alfadni (French Institut, Cairo) and THIS IS US – PARIS by Maria Di Stefano (The Room Projects, Paris).


THE RENCONTRES D'ARLES CURATORIAL RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP RECEIVES GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM JEAN-FRANÇOIS DUBOS