Paris Photo 2024

With a new curated sector, Voices, the expansion of the Digital and Emergence sectors, the arrival of new contemporary publishers, and the return of ancient books, Paris Photo returns to the Grand Palais for its 27th edition.

Overview

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Surrealism, Paris Photo invites filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist Jim Jarmusch to curate a personal selection of artworks on show, which will be held at the Grand Palais from November 7 to 10, 2024. The artist will also participate in a conversation open to the public. The film Return to Reason brings together four recently restored films by Man Ray, for which Jim Jarmusch composed original music with his group SQÜRL. It will be projected as a preview in two theaters in Paris during the fair. The public release is scheduled for November 13.

Paris Photo is launching the Voices sector this year, inviting three curators to develop a proposal around contemporary themes to (re)emerge an artistic scene or medium practice. This first edition will be hosted by 3 curators: Azu Nwagbogu, Founder and Director of LagosPhoto Festival, Independent Curator and recently Curator of the Benin Pavilion at the Venice Biennale; Sonia Voss, author and curator of numerous exhibitions focused on photographic scenes that emerged behind the Iron Curtain, particularly East German and 1970s Lithuanian photography; and Elena Navarro, independent curator, who founded the international photography festival, FotoMéxico. Voices can be discovered in the Southeast Gallery on the ground floor of the Grand Palais. 

The Emergence sector offers an exploration of the contemporary art scene at its most creative. The 23 solo shows organised by new galleries highlight a diverse range of techniques and themes, taking experimentation with the medium in new directions. From engagement with contemporary issues and experiments with perception to abstraction, the exhibition reveals the latest developments from a new generation of artists. Curated by Anna Planas, the exhibition stands out through the diversity of techniques and themes presented, pushing the experimentation with the medium towards new directions. The power of documentary photography, positioned between resistance and resilience, unfolds across several projects addressing themes such as identity, exile, gender, equality, ecology, nature, and memory. Each adopts the technique that best reveals it, from analog photography to collage, embroidery, and archival methods. A series of projects blur our sense of perception, playing with the boundaries of abstraction. Through various acts of recomposition, the artists establish a unique dialogue with their photographed subjects, invoking science, collage, and particular printing techniques. Further exploring the relationship between the photographer and their subject, to the point where they merge into a single entity, several works examine the body—female and constructed, acrobatic and sculptural, fluid and visceral—showing the ongoing dynamic of a new generation of artists. The Emergence sector is located on the first-floor walkways.

The Book Sector, presented in a new space on the first floor of the Grand Palais, reflects the importance of the photobook in the history of the medium. It brings together specialist publishers and features photobooks, limited editions, printed works, multiples, and artist’s books. Contemporary publishers will be joined by Mörel, The Eriskay Connection, Void and Kodoji Press. The event’s return to the Grand Palais also provides an opportunity to showcase books from the past through the projects of Plac’Art Photo and Dirk K. Bakker Boeken. Exclusive launches together with rare and limited editions are accompanied by more than 400 artists’ signings and discussions.

This year, the Elles × Paris Photo exhibition, which showcases the work of women photographers, will be curated by Raphaëlle Stopin, director of the Centre Photographique Rouen Normandie and former director of the Festival de Hyères. Organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, with the support of Kering’s Women in Motion programme, it showcases women in the arts and culture. Elles × Paris Photo has helped to boost the representation of women artists in the fair, which has increased from 20% to 38% since 2018. For the first time this year, with the support of Kering, four galleries are organising group and solo exhibitions devoted to women photographers.

During the four days of the fair, Paris Photo is organising a series of discussions with personalities from the art world. The whole programme will be available online in early October. In 2024, film director Jim Jarmusch will join Philippe Azoury in a discussion about the influence of Surrealism on the film-maker’s work; tribute will be paid to Robert Frank and his contribution to photography, film and publishing in a discussion with Lucy Gallun and Sarah Greenough led by Clark Winter; Tyler Mitchell will be in conversation with Deborah Willis. The image’s power of seduction and its exploitation by digital technology will be the subject of a discussion led by Marco de Mutiis in conjunction with the Digital section. Michel Poivert and Evelyne Cohen will discuss the photographic experiments of emerging photographers in the fair. During the day devoted to Elles x Paris Photo, there will also be a discussion about the collaboration between three artists – the choreographer Gisèle Vienne, the photographer Estelle Hanania and the actor Adèle Haenel – exploring the representation of the body through the camera lens. The discussions will take place on the 1st floor of the fair, 4 times a day, and will last 1 hour.

Devised and led by The Eyes team in collaboration with Paris Photo, the Artist Talks by The Eyes will examine the role of the book in artists’ practice, from general approach to production. In an intimate, convivial atmosphere, each artist will share with the public their experience of working on the most recent monograph, in a talk lasting 15 minutes followed by a Q&A with the public. The Artist Talks will feature, among others, Lia Darjes, Laia Abril, John Divola, Tina Barney and Cristina de Middel, and will be led by Marc Feustel and Pascale Obolo. The Artist Talks will take place in the curved gallery, from Thursday to Sunday 2pm to 6pm. The complete programme will be available in early October.

Co-founded in November 2012 by Paris Photo and the Aperture Foundation, the Paris Photo-Aperture PhotoBook Awards celebrate the photobook’s contribution to the evolving narrative of photography. Three categories will be rewarded: First PhotoBook, PhotoBook of the Year, and Photographic Catalogue of the Year. The thirty-five shortlisted photobooks will be exhibited at Paris Photo and featured in an extended online presentation on aperture.com. The shortlist of pre-selected books will be revealed in early October 2024. The winners will be announced at the next edition of Paris Photo, on Friday November 8, 2024.

Paris Photo, Picto Foundation, and SNCF Gares & Connexions are partnering for the 8th year to develop a platform for discovery, visibility, exchange, and meetings aimed at young talents. Launched in 2017, the Carte Blanche Students program is designed for bachelor’s and master’s students from European photography and visual arts schools, aiming to foster emerging talent and encourage creativity and energy. The projects of the four selected students, chosen from over 100 European schools, will be showcased at the Paris Photo fair from November 7 to 10, 2024, in a dedicated space where they will engage with the public. Additionally, an exhibition will be held at the forecourt of Paris Gare de Lyon from October 28 to November 30, 2024. This project is supported by Hahnemühle, La Saïf, and La Copie Privée.