We are pleased to announce the launch of the first annual Caochangdi PhotoSpring on April 17th, 2010. The Caochangdi PhotoSpring is working in a three-year partnership with "Les Rencontres d'Arles" Photography Festival. This will be the very first time that Arles' programs will be shown outside of France.

For the past forty years, "Les Rencontres d'Arles" has been the meeting point of photography artists, professionals, and amateurs alike, who come to the southern French city to discover the new talents of photography and rediscover its celebrated masters.

The Caochangdi art district was born in northeastern Beijing in 2000 and has since flourished into a vibrant artistic hub with numerous galleries, art institutions, and artists' studios. The aim of the Caochangdi PhotoSpring is to build a platform for photography in the art district through an annual event where photographers, photography collectors and the public can meet to have access to high quality works. For the first time, twenty Caochangdi galleries will join forces to celebrate photography from China and abroad with Caochangdi PhotoSpring.

The launch of the 2010 Caochangdi PhotoSpring will take place from April 17th through 22nd. During this week of festivities, each of the partnering Caochangdi galleries will host different activities, such as exhibition openings, lectures, evening concerts, documentary film screenings, and slideshows. The opening week of the 2010 Caochangdi PhotoSpring will also feature the announcement of the 2010 Three Shadows Photography Award winner, the presentation of the 2009 Discovery Award of "Les Rencontres d'Arles" Laureate, a symposium on Photography: Creativity vs. the Market, artist open studios, as well as portfolio reviews by a panel of international photography professionals. Visitors will have the opportunity to meet with photography professionals from China and abroad. All events will be open to the public.

Caochangdi PhotoSpring is part of the 2010 Croisements Festival, presented in partnership with the French Embassy in China and curated jointly by Thinking Hands Culture and the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre. It is organized in collaboration with "Les Rencontres d'Arles" and with the support of the galleries of Caochangdi.

EXHIBITIONS

More than thirty exhibitions will be held in the Caochangdi art district, with exclusive programming from the Rencontres d'Arles, as well as shows by members of the flourishing Chinese photographic scene and international artists.

Lucien Clergue will show his marvelous photos of Picasso, documenting for the Chinese public the friendship that bound the two artists; Pierre Gonnord's surprising portraits will be presented for the first time in Beijing; visitors will be able to explore the universe of Daido Moriyama, a key figure in Japanese photography and winner of the Arles 2004 No Limit prize, and discover the exceptional landscapes of dust by Naoya Hatakeyama.

Rimaldas Viksraitis, Prix Découverte of the Rencontres d'Arles 2009 will be present, alongside the twenty laureates of the Three Shadows Award.

Han Lei, Mo Yi and Wu Yinxian, important figures in the Chinese photographic scene, will be honored with solo exhibitions, in addition to their younger colleagues such as Chi Peng or Cai Weidong.

Numerous group exhibitions will present works ranging from digital photography to Polaroids and vintage prints, while also placing an emphasis on photography books.
With this multifaceted approach, the Caochangdi Photospring will offer a new forum for contemporary photography.