The Lishui Photography Festival boasts various exhibitions. [Photo/Lishui Daily]

The 5th International Photography Symposium and the 2023 Lishui Photography Festival opened on Nov 6 in Lishui city – in East China's Zhejiang province – with the theme of "Image Gather Possibilities".

The festival has been held 10 times since 2004. The latest one is the largest and most internationally participated in over the course of its history – with 917 exhibitions selected from 5,117 entries and 45,865 works submitted by 10,391 photographers and curators from 63 countries and regions.

The ongoing festival also features various exhibitions, lectures, seminars and forums. These cover a wide range of topics and genres in image art, such as documentaries, landscapes, portraits, conceptual and experimental works and artificial intelligence art.

One of the highlights of the festival is the presence of world-renowned photographer Stephen Shore, who is also the director of the photography department at Bard College in the United States.

The festival organizing committee conducted in-depth research on Shore's artistic achievements and presented them through a comprehensive exhibition of his 335 works, as well as lectures and seminars.

Another highlight is the launch of the AI Image Art Award, which is the first of its kind in China.

The festival organized the first AI image art collection, selection and exhibition in the country. It is also staging an AI image-themed forum, inviting experts and scholars from 13 countries and regions to discuss the development and challenges of image art in the global AI era.

The festival has also set up a retrospective exhibition to review its 20-year development and achievements, showcasing the evolution and diversity of image art in China and the world.