Arles Photography Festival 2026: My week at Worlds in View

On the 6th of July, two of my works were hanging on a white wall in the Rue Georges Blanc. Outside, the July heat of Provence; inside, a room full of photography enthusiasts. That is how the Rencontres d’Arles 2026 has started for me.

ProfiFoto has selected me for the „Worlds in View“ exhibition, curated by Thomas Gerwers.
„Invocation“ and „Origin and Echo“, two works from my Shikoku series.

The pop-up gallery Les Murs Blancs at 12 Rue Georges Blanc was open daily from 6 to 12 July from 10:30 to 19:00, with a programme of events running throughout the week.
I already took part in 2024, back then in the „Beyond the Surface“ exhibition.

The private view was well attended, and it remained lively throughout the week. During the first week, Arles is full of people who have travelled there for photography, and many of them found their way to the pop-up gallery.

The conversations in Arles 2026

I was frequently in the gallery. That was the best part of the week.

Someone stops in front of a picture that is not immediately obvious, and starts asking questions.
How does something like that happen?.
Whether that's still photography.
What you actually see there.

This led to some interesting conversations about photographic art in general and my approach in particular. We discussed motion blur as a visual language, exposure times, but above all what it is that makes an image resonate on an emotional level rather than in a documentary sense.
Conversations like that don’t happen online.
I love this exchange!

At the private view I met Kristin Dittrich from the Shift School for Photography She’s had her share of difficulties with my pictures and jokes that they look as if you’ve taken your glasses off. Nevertheless, she listens very carefully when I explain why I work this way, and that’s exactly what she finds fascinating. I prefer this mix of contradiction and genuine interest to a fleeting compliment.

Two discussions on photography and AI at Rencontre Arles 2026

On the 8th of July, I listened to two panel discussions. The first was about whether photography can depict reality at all at a time when images are created even without a camera. The second was about whether photography still needs artists.

One term stuck in my mind from the first round.
The participants felt that „represent“ was the wrong word and suggested „translate“ when discussing what photography means. A photograph does not depict reality; it translates it.
And every translation involves making choices.

In the end, the second panel agreed: artificial intelligence is not creative because it cannot make choices. It lacks its own frame of reference from which to decide which image should remain and which should be discarded. The act of selection, they argued, is the true artistic act.

I see it much the same way, but I'm coming from a different angle.
My photographs are taken whilst the shutter is open.
I can prepare the conditions, but I cannot directly determine the outcome.

What comes next is a matter of choice: finding, from amongst many shots, the one that works. Finding the image that can capture the feeling and intensity of the moment. No one can make that decision for me, because it cannot be derived from a rule, but rather from what I saw – and, above all, what I felt – whilst I was there.

Then the picture is finished, but it still has to wait. It also needs someone to stop in front of it and enter into a dialogue with it. That is precisely what I so enjoyed observing in Arles.

What I saw at the Rencontres d’Arles 2026

I had planned to do more. From Friday onwards it wasn't possible anymore, my slipped disc, and later the operation happened. In the days before that I still saw quite a bit that is still occupying my thoughts afterwards.

Ming Smith, „Nomadic Glow“, Sainte-Anne Church.
Many of her images are motion-blurred, out of focus, smeared. A photographer who, since the nineteen-seventies, has been doing precisely what is so important to me: allowing the image to be imprecise so that it shows something other than a pure description and documentation of what is in front of the lens.

Harry Gruyaert, „A Sense of Place“, Chapelle Saint-Martin du Méjan.
His colours and geometries did something to me. I stood in front of it and had the impulse not to capture his pictures, but my own feeling while looking at them, with my camera and my way of working. That eye for geometry was truly impressive!

„Animal Model. 200 years of photography, La Mécanique générale.
Two hundred years of photography alongside our relationship with the animal. Very appealingly curated with many different perspectives. One of those exhibitions I came out of more slowly than I went in.

Alain Keler, Retrospective, Douches municipales.
A life's work spanning decades. It is impressive to see what comes to be when someone stays the course for so long and continually hones their vision and powers of observation.

„Nos rêves lointains“, Espace Monoprix.
Archival work, accompanied by text citations. The combination of image and quote touched me because together they tell more than either could on its own. It felt very intense.

Lara Tabet and Yasmine Chemali, „Le corps vitré“, Cloître Saint-Trophime.
Images created using bacteria. I stood there looking at them and thought of wine, of yeasts, of spontaneous fermentation, of everything that goes on unseen in the cellar. Perhaps something will come of it one day.

And in the Arles OFF sweet „New York Trilogy“ at 29 Rue de la Liberté, expertly curated by Sabine Schnakenberg from the Deichtorhallen Hamburg. Three perspectives on the same city:
Nina Kling from New York, Jens Krauer from Zurich and Mario Schneider from Halle.
Three positions in a room that have left space for each other while simultaneously enriching one another.
You don't see that very often.

I arrived with two of my own pictures and left again with a head full of exciting images and new ideas.

The series in its original version

For those who would like to see the works from „Shikoku: Interwoven Worlds“ in person, rather than just on screen:
Part of the series is currently on display at The Pier in Mainz, Große Bleiche 15, Monday to Friday from 8.30 am to 5 pm, until 27 August 2026.
No registration is necessary – just ring the bell and say that you would like to view my pictures. I would still appreciate a short message beforehand, then I might even be there myself if possible.