France Plans to Mark 200 Years of Photography in 2026

To mark the 2 hundredth anniversary of the world’s oldest surviving {photograph}, France is holding the Bicentennial of Photography, a collection of occasions to have a good time the medium. There shall be exhibitions, festivals, festivals, lectures, and rather more throughout the course of 2026 and 2027

The celebrations begin simply subsequent week on the Grand Palais in Paris with a free occasion titled ‘200 years of history, paper, ink and debate,’ providing a journey by archives, methods, and emblematic photos of pictures. There are loads of occasions nonetheless to be introduced, together with on the Nicéphore Niépce Museum.

“By celebrating photography’s birth, we aim to develop, support, and promote exhibitions and meet-ups nationwide, in urban and rural areas, by awarding labels to selected projects,” the Minisetère De La Culture says in an announcement.

“These events will be featured on an interactive, vibrant map, allowing the public to discover and appreciate photographic masterpieces spanning from the 19th century to the present.”

Under the steerage of the Centre nationwide des arts plastiques, a ministry that promotes visible arts, there shall be a name for initiatives that “reinvent photography” — a fortunate few will obtain monetary assist to pursue their work.

“It will establish a framework for examining contemporary practices, emerging technical and artistic possibilities, the dangers of their misuse, and the challenges posed by artificial imagery, which is now viewed as both an advancement and a threat to human roles,” provides the ministry.

Why 2026?

The world’s oldest surviving {photograph}, View from the Window at Le Gras, was taken by Nicéphore Niépce in Chalon-sur-Saône in both 1826 or 1827. It is an especially hazy, summary picture of Niépce’s property that required an eight-hour publicity and a bitumen-coated pewter plate. What is really wonderful about it’s that it might nonetheless be seen to this present day in Austin on the University of Texas.

In a earlier article, PetaPixel defined that View from the Window at Le Gras shouldn’t be the primary {photograph} ever taken, however the first one to be completely fastened.

A couple of years after he took View from the Window at Le Gras, Niépce started working with Louis Daguerre as the 2 tried to invent a greater technique of completely fixing a picture. Niépce died in 1833, however Daguerre continued the work and in 1839 introduced the daguerreotype course of, which turned the world’s first mass pictures technique.

For additional particulars on France’s bicentennial of pictures, head to the Une Image Pour Rêver website.