A hybrid initiative combining photography, architecture, and music, Contemplation will come alive at the Rencontres d’Arles, with the goal of making art a gateway towards certain fundamental values of our time: serenity, altruism, responsibility to living things... Contemplation is an exhibition of the photographs of the renowned philosopher Matthieu Ricard: a composition of forty exclusive works, in black and white and in large format, printed on Awagami paper, produced using a Japanese technique 1,400 years old. Bearing witness to fifty years of a life dedicated to spirituality, particularly those spent in the Himalayas, these images are presented at Arles in an extraordinary setting specially designed for the occasion: a bamboo pavilion conceived by Colombia based team of architects Simón Vélez and Stefana Simic. Renowned particularly for his participation in the 2016 Venice Biennale, Simón Vélez designed for Contemplation a unique and monumental structure of 1,000 m2 on the banks of the Rhône, facing the Old City of Arles. This “place of serenity,” inviting contemplation and inner peace, becomes a corridor, a bridge, between the arts and the commitment of Matthieu Ricard.