Header: Courtesy of BMW
For fifteen years, BMW France and the renowned photography festival Les Rencontres d’Arles have shared a journey dedicated to contemporary art. This long-term collaboration reaches a significant point in 2025, celebrating its anniversary with a special exhibition. The event highlights a shared commitment to supporting new artistic voices and exploring the world through their unique perspectives. This year, the festival will present “Traversée du fragment manquant,” an original work by the artist Raphaëlle Peria and the curator Fanny Robin, winners of the BMW ART MAKERS programme.
A journey through memory and missing pieces
The centerpiece of the 2025 festival is the exhibition “Traversée du fragment manquant,” which will be unveiled at the Cloître Saint-Trophime in Arles from July 7 to October 5, 2025. The project is a personal and poetic exploration for artist Raphaëlle Peria. “Trees are living beings that carry our memory; they are the guardians of our secrets,” she says.
Peria revisits childhood photographs from a trip along the Canal du Midi, retracing a path lined with plane trees that are now under threat from a destructive fungus. Curator Fanny Robin explains that Peria is employing innovative artistic methods to explore this evolving landscape.
“By exploring this landscape of memory through new effects of transparency, she captures the evolution of a disappearing nature – inscribing absence and the passage of time into her images.”
Fanny Robin
The BMW ART MAKERS programme provides essential support for projects like this. The winning artist and curator receive a €33,000 grant and additional funding for production and research. After its debut in Arles, the exhibition will travel to Paris Photo, another event where BMW is an official partner.
The creative duo expressed their excitement, stating: “This award recognizes our longstanding creative partnership and allows us to go further in our exploration of new materials and forms.”
Fifteen years of creative exploration
Looking back, the partnership between BMW France and Les Rencontres d’Arles has consistently provided a stage for artistic experimentation. The company believes that artists offer forward-thinking views that help society anticipate future challenges and understand social changes.
Over the years, the collaboration has supported a wide range of creative projects. The initial ten years of the BMW Residency and the more recent BMW ART MAKERS programme have seen numerous artists and curators explore contemporary topics using varied and inventive methods. Artists like Alexandra Catière and Baptiste Rabichon have mixed old techniques with new technologies. Others have worked at the intersection of different fields; Natasha Caruana investigated love and science, while Arash Hanaei and Morad Montazami created an immersive installation about how digital technology affects people.
The variety of artistic expression has been remarkable. Mazaccio & Drowilal used humor to explore human-animal connections, and Alinka Echeverria questioned traditional notions of femininity. Emeric Lhuisset tackled the subject of borders, while Dune Varela challenged the fixed nature of photography itself. This history demonstrates a profound commitment to fostering diverse forms of contemporary art.
A deeper commitment to culture
The relationship between BMW and the festival extends beyond simply hosting exhibitions. Education is a core component, particularly through the “La Rentrée en Images” program. This initiative invites over 400 school classes each year to discover contemporary photography, helping students develop their critical thinking about the images that surround them.
This long-standing association is founded on a shared vision for the future of culture. BMW aims to support artistic creation, research, and cultural education with a sense of responsibility and sustainability. Christoph Wiesner, Director of Les Rencontres d’Arles, notes how the partnership helps the festival support new artists and explore current issues. “Over the past 15 years of collaboration, BMW has helped foster the emergence of new talent,” he says.
Vincent Salimon, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW Group France, emphasizes the importance of this enduring connection.
“Together, we make culture shine – today and for future generations – celebrating the value of long-term commitment in a rapidly changing world.”
This 15-year anniversary is not just a look back at past achievements but a confirmation of a shared path forward, redefining how we see the modern world through the eyes of artists.
