The second edition of Caochangdi PhotoSpring–Arles in Beijing opened on April 23, 2011.The PhotoSpring team was honored to welcome thousands of guests from all over the world, as well as local photography professionals, artists, and visitors. For the 2011 edition of PhotoSpring, of the 32 total exhibitions, 14 were produced or co-produced by Caochangdi PhotoSpring, including:
Taryn Simon: The Innocents (Three Shadows Photography Art Centre)
Myriad Visions: The 2011 Three Shadows Photography Award Exhibition (Three Shadows Photography Art Centre)
Reappearance: The Arles 1988 China Exhibition (Three Shadows Photography Art Centre)
Eikoh Hosoe: Photographic Scrolls (Three Shadows Photography Art Centre)
Through the Lens: The World of Bernard Pras (China Art Archives and Warehouse)
reGeneration² (Pékin Fine Arts Gallery)
The Impossible Exhibition (Matthias Küper Gallery Beijing)
Chris Marker: Slices of Life (Jing Yi Art Space)
YAMAMOTO Masao: KAWA = Flow (Mizuma & One Gallery)
Jesper Just (Red One Art Area)
He Chongyue: The End—Family Planning Series (Red One Art Area)
Blue Shadow: Recent Works by Zhang Dali (No. 53 Yard)
Macau Photography (No. 53 Yard)
Thierry Girard: Women in Shanghai (No. 53 Yard)
PhotoSpring offered a wide variety of engaging events to choose from: academic symposia, artists'talks and curatorial lectures, international dialogues and roundtable discussions, specialized workshops, interactive performance art, art events tailored to Beijing, photofolio reviews, and film screenings and music after dark. As was the case with the first edition, Caochangdi PhotoSpring 2011 continued to capture the interest of both international and domestic media:
• 73 domestic media outlets attended opening day
• 25 international media outlets attended opening day
• 30 distinguished media partnerships
• 140 domestic and international media reports featuring
• Caochangdi PhotoSpring 2011
• More than 15,000 visitors viewed www.ccdphotospring.com during opening week
Organized as an independent event under the umbrella of Caochangdi PhotoSpring, LOVE and HOPE was an exhibition and artwork sale running from May 5-15, 2011 with the aim of raising money for children affected by the disasters in Japan. 81 artists were part of this charity event and a total of 1,382,300 RMB will be donated to the ChildFund Japan through the Smile Angel Foundation. Sponsorship and Support from China and Abroad：
French Embassy in China / Institut Français / Festival Croisements / Danish Cultural Institute / The Japan Foundation, Beijing / Prohelvetia / Embassy of the Netherlands / Iberia Center for Contemporary Art / Embassy of Denmark/ Embassy of Switzerland / CAFA Art Museum / Modern Media / Peugeot / Martell / Hewlett-Packard / EDF / All Nippon Airlines / Wimco / Kunst / Shiseido Co.,Ltd. / CIGE / Hotel G / Bradford Richardson
During the festival, we were greatly honored to welcome luminaries such as:
Sylvie Bernamm, Ambassador, Embassy of France / Didier Burkhalter, Federal Councilor of Education and Culture, Embassy of Switzerland / Blaise Godet, Ambassador, Embassy of Switzerland / Michael Schaeffer, Ambassador, Embassy of Germany / Marc Kohen, Embassy of Belgium / Shigeo Yamada, Minister, Embassy of Japan / Eric Messerschmidt, Danish Cultural Institute and representatives from the Embassy of the Netherlands, and the Embassy of Denmark.
Caochangdi PhotoSpring 2011 confirmed its prominence in the international art arena by operating informational / promotional booths at both of Beijing's preeminent contemporary art fairs, CIGE 2011 (April 21–24) and Art Beijing 2011 (April 29–May 3).
In conclusion, the second edition of Caochangdi PhotoSpring –Arles in Beijing proved to be an enormously successful event, thus highlighting the significance of this type of cultural initiative. The festival continues to spotlight the cultural and artistic value which Caochangdi embodies, as well as forging ties between the local and artistic communities, thus demonstrating the importance of preserving this unique zone for artistic innovation in the face of Beijing's rapid development.