The XV Encuentros Abiertos - Festival de la Luz (Festival of Light), will be held from August 1st to September 30th, 2008 in Museums, Cultural Centers, Galleries and Art Venues around 22 cities in Argentina. Festival de la Luz is the most important photography biennial exhibition in Latin America.

Encuentros Abiertos, which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary, consists of several photographic activities, all of them free of charge, except for the Portfolios Forum and the workshops that are the only paid activities in the Festival.

The activities will be divided into different groups:

Exhibitions: 80 photographic exhibitions at museums and cultural centers around the country. Some of the participating venues are: Centro Cultural Recoleta with its 18 rooms; Centro Cultural Borges; Centro cultural Rojas; Centro Cultural San Martín; Teatro General San Martín; Dirección General de Museos; Museo Fernandez Blanco; Museo José Hernández; Alianza Francesa; Espacio Multiarte; BAC; Escuela Argentina de Fotografía, in its 4 venues; MAC Salta; Centro cultural Virla, Tucuman, Espacio contemporáneo de Arte in Mendoza; Fine Arts museums in La Rioja, San Juan, Gral. Roca, Trelew, Paraná, Santa Fe, among many others.
Meetings: conferences, round tables and screenings at the Auditorium of Alianza Francesa and the National Museum of Fine Arts.
Portfolios forum: meetings for photographers, curators, collectors, editors, critics, museum and festival directors.
Actions: open calls, contests, video-art, street projections, book presentations, performances, etc.
Urban Interventions: Homage to Alicia D'Amico at Plaza Dorrego; Contemporary collective exhibition at Plaza San Martin; Alan Humerose (Switzerland) at Puerto Madero; and Tom Lisboa with "Blow Up" at Plaza Francia.
Workshops: Argentine and international professors are invited to offer different workshops during the festival.

The Festival of Light is an international collaboration of more than 34 photography festivals around the world. This cooperation has a common website: www.festivaloflight.org, and a continuous exchange of exhibitions, activities and participants.The Festival of Light 2008 is sponsored by the embassies of France, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil. Also by: Alianza Francesa, the Secretary of Culture of the City of Buenos Aires, the General Direction of Museums, Centro Cultural Recoleta, Conaculta (Mexico), Centro de la Imagen (Mexico), Centro de la Imagen (Lima), Fundación Pro Helvetia, Culture France, and is organized by Fundacion Luz Austral.

The National Museum of Decorative Arts presents the traveling exhibition of 19th century French sculptures, "The Rodin Era", that includes works by Auguste Rodin, Louis Ernest Barrias, Emile-Antoine Bourdelle, Jean Baptiste Carpeaux, Albert Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, Camille Claudel, Charles Cordier, Alexandre Falguière, Jean León Gerôme, Hiram Powers, Pierre Auguste Renoir, belonging to the Museo de Arte de Ponce, in Puerto Rico, and to the Soumaya Museum, in Mexico.

Like most of the sculptors in the 19th century, Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) was brilliant at modeling clay, and directed the most important sculpture workshop, composed, among others, by modeling artists, people in charge of the plaster making for bronze molds, marble sculptors, and other collaborators that performed the versions of his works in different sizes.

Going through the works by Rodin, his masters, and his disciples, visitors will understand the revitalizing strength of their creations, and how, despite the criticism of their time, they were able to transcend the temporal and geographic frontiers.

Dates: July 12th to September 16th, 2008
Location: National Museum of Decorative Arts (Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo). Avenida Libertador 1902
Opening times:
Tuesdays to Sundays, 2 pm to 7 pm
Mondays closed.
Guided visits:
Tuesday to Friday: 5.30 pm
Saturday and Sunday: 4.30 pm and 5.30 pm