Arles Photography Festival

Spaustuvė KOPA

„Three publications from printing house KOPA were nominated at the Arles Photography Festival“

Arles Photography festival is one of the biggest and most important photography events in Europe. The festival takes place in a historical town of Arles in the south of France. This year hundreds of talented artists and photographers gathered here for the 49th time (the first festival took place in the summer of 1970). The event is always accompanied by the contest of the Best photography book. The contest is very popular attracting hundreds of applicants every year.

From all publications submitted to the competition, shortlists are drawn up from which the competent commission then selects the category winners. To win these awards is a great honour, which in 2015 fell to a monograph printed by the KOPA printing house: “Vitas Luckus. Kūryba/biografija” (composed by Margarita Matulytė and Tatjana Luckienė-Aldag).

The category winners for this year are the following: 
The Author Book Award:
Laurence AËGERTER, „Photographic Treatment“

The Historical Book Award:
Julius NEUBRONNER, „The Pigeon Photographer“

The Photo-Text Book Award:
Adam BROOMBERG & Oliver CHANARIN, „War Primer 2“

Nevertheless, even making the shortlist signifies a high degree of professionalism and creativity. This year, in each of the three main categories, there was one book printed by the KOPA printing house.

Alix Marie’s book “Bleu” was nominated for the Author Book Award. We have already written about this exclusive publication – in the first part of the year “Bleu” was named one of the best photo books published in 2017 (according to the French daily “Libération”; you can read more about it here). It is the first book by a young talented artist (mostly engaged in installations, sculptures and photographs), immediately gaining recognition on an international scale. The book stands out thanks to its original laminate, which adds an extra dimension to the theme of the body in photography. 

Three spreads from Alix Marie book Bleu

Rimaldas Vikšraitis’ album “Prie pažįstamo pasaulio krašto”/ “At the edge of the known world” (published by Kaunas Photo Gallery) was nominated in the Historical Book category. Photographer Rimaldas Vikšraitis is already known to many in Arles – in 2009, during the festival, he was acknowledged as the “Discovery of the Year”, thus gaining appreciation for his work of many years, and his originality – Vikšraitis’ photography is one of a kind both in the context of Lithuania and Europe. At the beginning of this year, another collection of Rimaldas Vikšraitis’ photos (also printed by the KOPA Printing House) won an award at the Book Art Competition (you can find more about it here).

 

Robot Hornstra and Bonnie Steenman’s book “Man Next Door” was nominated in the Photo Text Book category. One more publication that made the “Libération” best list. This self-published Dutch photographer’s work embodies the work of many years. The author is famous for such large-scale, long-term projects. Through the case of one particular individual – his neighbour Kid – Rob creates a versatile portrait of a working class representative, full of controversy and overlapping common human themes.

All the books described above have this common theme – their content provokes and invites discussion. Inspirational, artistic publications create different world stories, teach readers to look with fresh eyes, open up a different perspective and encourage breaking with a comfortable routine. We would like to see both you and ourselves grasp things that that may not be so comfortable or that may be provocative, but which, at the same time teach one to become more open to a plurality of stories.