"Was it necessary to invent a new rite of passage at this very special time? To replace this blank year with a new Technicolor edition? In the urgency of the present, it was above all a commitment. The commitment of the Rencontres d'Arles to the photographers, artists, curators, partners and institutions with which the festival has forged such strong ties over the years. Far from envisaging a "tabula rasa" inviting us to break with this time on hold induced by the pandemic, we then had to reflect on updating a legacy, that of the 2020 edition built by Sam Stourdzé around the theme of resistance, of this photography which, in his words, "stands up, opposes, denounces [...] re-enchants". I wanted to establish the program from these premises, tracing extensions, variations, echoes, new complementarities or short circuits that would also allow us to grasp an intensity, an urgency for the Rencontres d'Arles to take the pulse of the state of the world. If the horizon is not yet clear, if the light will still be subdued this summer, it is necessary to make perceptible the multiplied flashes captured by the invited photographers and artists. "

Christoph Wiesner, President of the Rencontres d'Arles