For the 55th edition of the festival, the Rencontres d’Arles and the LUMA Foundation are once again offering the LUMA Rencontres Dummy Book Award, a prize to help publish a dummy book.

This prize, with a production budget of €25,000, is open to any new photographer or artist using photography, submitting a previously unpublished dummy book. Special attention is paid to experimental and innovative publication forms. This year, nearly 200 dummies were received from 50 different countries. The Rencontres d’Arles and the LUMA Foundation set up a jury to select the shortlisted dummies and the winning one. This selection is exhibited as part of the official 2024 festival program.

In 2023, the Dummy Book Award was given to the Iranian artist Arash Fayez for Apolis, published this year by Spector Books. The prize has previously been given in 2022 to Maciejka Art for Hoja Santa, published by Actes Sud and Dewi Lewis; in 2021 to Moe Suzuki for Sokohi published by Chose Commune; in 2020 to Yto Barrada and Bettina Grossman for Bettina, published by Atelier EXB; in 2019 to Chow and Lin for The Poverty Line, published by Actes Sud and Lars Müller Publishers. The 2024 winner is announced during the opening week.

The shortlist

Bianco Ordinario
Hélène Bellenger
Design : Eleonora Paciullo & Hugo Berger
France, 2024.

Fata Morgana
Louis Roth
Mamdouh Abdelkhalek
Design : Leon Hofmann
Allemagne, 2024.

H.M.
Alessandro Mazzola
Design : David Mozzetta & Massimo Mastrorillo
Italie, 2023.

Hello! Do You Remember Me?
Hang Tam
Design : Hang Tam
Hong Kong, 2024.

Incoming Message
Mie Inada
Design : Mie Inada
Japon, 2023.

Kaliama
Bimal Fabbri
Design : Bimal Fabbri
Allemagne, 2022.

La ronde des hirondelles
Florence Cuschieri
Sylvain Prudhomme
Design : Lia Pradal
France, 2023.

Leaving Today
Holger Biermann
Freddy Langer
Design : Troppo Design
Allemagne, 2023.

Riding in Silence & the Crying Dervish
Mashid Mohadjerin
Design : Jelle Jespers
Belgique, 2024.

The Dog Sat Where We Parted
Mahmoud Khattab
Design : Mahmoud Khattab
Égypte, 2023.