Copenhagen Photo Festival. The largest Nordic festival of its kind returns on June 3-30, with more than 30 exhibitions spread all over galleries, museums and art institutions in Copenhagen and southern Sweden. Copenhagen Photo Festival will be brimming with creativity, experimentation and exhibitions. At our festival centre carefully selected artists turn a 10,000 m2 wasteland into an innovative exhibition park filled with photography and lens-based art. The exhibition park connects the art experience with social events and open-air music supplied by DJ’s.
In June, it is all about photography seen through our three main focal points: Framing Identity, Framing Society and Framing Vision. These focal points capture the individual, society and art via exhibitions, workshops, talks and more.
Copenhagen Photo Festival focuses on development. New forms of exhibiting, new ways to use photography as well as new perspectives and emerging talents. The festival presents a programme of high quality – artistically and conceptually – building bridges between fine art and documentary photography. Copenhagen Photo Festival is for those who want to break new ground and challenge the idea of what photography is and can be, now and in the future.
The 3 focal points
The six solo artists at Copenhagen Photo Festival are selected as this year’s headliners of our three focal points: Framing Identity, Framing Society and Framing Vision. They are our way of opening up windows to other worlds and serve the purpose of showcasing photography across genres, by focusing on the individual, society and art.
Festival Exhibitions
The exhibition park is located on Refshaleøen, an island at the heart of Copenhagen life, home to several cultural institutions that draw audiences from all across the globe. We will contribute to the pool of artistry by using our platform to challenge traditional presentation methods, finding new and inventive ways of showcasing artists’ visions, because experimentation, along with sustainability, is of utmost importance to the festival. Each year 250 Danish and foreign photographers contribute to the festival programme, and the overall event is annually visited by 55.000 participants.
Exhibition Park
Copenhagen Photo Festival’s exhibition park is placed at the old slipway, previously home to the Burmeister & Wain (B&W) shipyard. With its 10,000 m2, the exhibition park becomes the soul of the Festival Centre on Refshaleøen, which offers international photo exhibitions, talks and events. In the post-industrial setting, the ambition is to explore new ways of exhibiting photography and to create a physical platform in Northern Europe for innovative photography – documentary as well as artistic.
The Censored Exhibition
The Censored Exhibition is an international group exhibition that seeks to present a contemporary selection of international fine-art photography. This year, we received a total of 380 applications from 49 countries, of which 24 artists have been selected from 16 countries by an international jury based on an open call. This year, the jury consisted of Roderick van der Lee, Executive Director at Unseen Photo Fair Amsterdam, Audrey Hoareau, Artistic Director at Photo Basel & freelance curator and Michelle Eistrup, critically acclaimed artist.
The exhibition will take place in Skærehallen on Refshaleøen, for the first time. Thus, the exhibition gives new life to an older industrial building, while the building is also used actively in the installing of the works. It is a historic place that meets contemporary photography and creativity, and in that intersection, explores what international fine-art photography is, can and leans towards being in the future.
CPF Official Partners
The CPF Official Partners Programme is for institutions, photographers and visual artists who have their own space available for exhibiting.
The audience can look forward to 30 days of selected national and international photography exhibitions. In addition to 11 days at Refshaleøen, the program also includes CPF Official Exhibitions Partners at renowned photo schools, cultural institutions, galleries and other locations throughout the month of June.