Strong event program across the city
Image credit: Joakim Eskildsen from his series 'Home works' exhibition at Fotografisk Center opening with a talk on 2. june.
Copenhagen Photo Festival presents the final festival program of the year, which, in addition to all the photo exhibitions, offers everything from inspiring talks and investigative panel debates to thought-provoking films and workshops that focus on rewilding. The festival opens with a curated grand opening event on 1 June, while three time World Press Photo winner Mads Nissen rounds off the festival with the last talk of the year on 11 June and unveiling of next year’s theme.
Copenhagen Photo Festival opens on Thursday 1 June with a large grand opening event that marks the beginning of 11 days filled with contemporary photography, powerful films and insightful talks. The festival's grand opening is celebrated with DJ, happy hour and a rewilded photo performance as well as guided tours by the exhibiting artists in the exhibition park's 13 exhibitions on Refshaleøen as a taste of what the festival has to offer.
Explore all exhibitions and events at the festival center
Topical talks and panels examine art, photography and sustainable practices
In addition to presenting its visitors with contemporary photography, Copenhagen Photo Festival also wants to create a space for dialogue and inspiration through an extensive program of talks and panels.
Under this year's main theme of ‘rewilding’, the festival opens the doors to a series of panel debates in collaboration with FUTURES Photography, where sustainable art practices, art in public space and the importance of artificial intelligence for future photography and art are discussed.
The panels include photographers exhibiting at the festival flanked by a number of guest speakers and experts such as Carina Hammer, responsible for sustainability at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Lisa Giomar Hydén Exhibitions Director at Fotografiska Stockholm and Majken Overgaard from Korridor, but also Raphaël Biollay, curator at Images Vevey and Jacob Theilgaard, director of Bæredygtigt Kulturliv.nu.
Reserve your seat at the panels
From Fryd Frydendahl to Torben Eskerod
In addition to the professional program on Refshaleøen, this year you can experience interesting conversations about photography all over the city, including at the photo book market at Kunstforeningen GL STRAND, Theilgaard Academy, Thiemers Magasin and at the Fotografisk Center and Det Kgl. Library and a number of other exhibition venues of the festival. On the program are, among others, Fryd Frydendahl, Joakim Eskildsen, Per Bak Jensen, Ole Christiansen, Lærke Posselt and Torben Eskerod.
‘Rewild’ your photographic skills
During the Copenhagen Photo Festival, there will be a series of workshops that will take you back to the early techniques of photography. Here you can try your hand at cyanotype, wet plate photography, polaroid transfer or sew your own notebook with the elegant Japanese bookbinding technique.
Photography in the Cinemateque
This year, Copenhagen Photo Festival also offers an extensive film program with subsequent talks both on Refshaleøen and in a special photo film program at the Cinematheque that shows e.g. acclaimed films by Sally Mann, Jacob Riis, Nan Goldin,Helmut Newton and the pioneeren and mad amn Eadweard Muybridge.
Phie Ambo in dialogue about ‘rewilding’
At the festival center you can experience Phie Ambo's latest film "Organised Wildness", which focuses sharply on the dilemmas and conflicting interests that arise in a community in Thy in North Jutland, when the community is introduced to the rewilding of a local forest area. The film will be with English subtitles and after the screening Phie Ambo will enter a conversation on how we can rewild Denmark and have more wild nature. The film screening is made possible in collaboration with Imagine5 and Bio Bio.
Book your seat for Organiseret vildskab
Three-time World Press Photo winner puts the finishing touches on this year's festival
One of the world's most recognized photographers, Mads Nissen, who has won the main prize in World Press Photo three times, rounds off the Copenhagen Photo Festival with an artist talk about his latest project SANGRE BLANCA.
SANGRE BLANCA was made in a unique collaboration with the Colombian artist Juan Arreaza, and examines the journey of cocaine from a laboratory in Colombia to a nightclub in Kødbyen in Copenhagen. The project unfolds through photographs, oil paintings and installations and gives a unique insight into the historically high cocaine trade and its human consequences.
Open call 2024 kickoff
With this presentation, Mads Nissen connects to the Copenhagen Photo Festival 2024, where he will be headliner with his exhibition of SANGRE BLANCA. In connection with the talk, the veil will also be lifted for next year's main theme which kicks off the open call for the 2024 edition of Copenhagen Photo Festival.
Read more about the closing event
Explore the full festival programme
Rewilding: Panel debates at festival center
Rewilding, sustainability and artificial intelligence
In collaboration with FUTURES Photography Platform we invite you to participate in a series of panel debates about art in relation to rewilding, sustainability and artificial intelligence on 1 and 2 June. The participating panelists are a mix of the exhibiting artists and invited speakers from the Danish and international art scene including Carina Hammer, head of sustainability at Louisiana, Majken Overgaard from Korridor, Raphaël Biollay, curator at Images Vevey and others.
CPF always put great focus on the architectural and spatial aspects when selecting artists and when designing specific exhibitions. Our considerations are led by a principle of sustainability, finding creative ways to blur the border between our exhibitions and the nature and atmosphere of our exhibition park at Refshaleøen in Central Copenhagen. Focusing on photography, architecture and sustainability is therefore at the core of our DNA as a photo festival.
Inspirational panels about the future of art and photography
The panels are thus sprung out of our overarching theme of 2023 and is a nod homage to Copenhagen’s celebration as World Capital of Architecture in 2023 which focuses on sustainability. The panels take place in a double tipi in the center of our rewilded exhibition park and seek to inspire, explore the theme, and not least give space to networking across national and cultural borders and across professional circles and industries within culture.
Programme
Rewilding art and photography – a sustainable arts practice
Public panel discussions 1 and 2 June
1 June - 1 pm-4 pm: A sustainable art’s practice – moderated by Imagine5
Artists and experts in the panel: Carina Hammer, head of sustainability at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, artist Alice Pallot (FR), photographer Daniel Hinks (CH/UK) and Krzysztof Candrowicz, curator, founder of Fotofestiwal Lodz and Jacob Theilgaard, director of Bæredygtigt Kulturliv.nu
2 June - 10 am-1 pm: Art in Public Space
Is the future of art to be more public – is it more sustainable, more democratic? Possibilities and challenges.
Artists and experts in the panel: CPF solo artists Erik Berglin (SE), Hilla Kurki (FI) and Kristina Knipe (US), Raphaël Biollay, curator at Images Vevey and Louise Fiil Hansen, partner and design director at SLA Architects.
2 June - 2-3:30 pm: Panel discussion about future aspects
Artificial intelligence, utopias and science.
Artists and experts in the panel: CPF solo artist Craig Ames (UK), Futures 2023 talent Susanne Fagerlund (SE) and Futures artist Daniel Szalai (HU) and Majken Overgaard (DK) from Korridor and Lisa Giomar Hydén from Fotografiska in Stockholm..
NB! Limited seats – book in Billetto in the event links above
Extensive photo film programme at Cinemateket
Image credit: Helmut Newton - The Bad And The Beautiful
As part of this year's Copenhagen Photo Festival we are happy to present an extensive film programme at Cinemateket in the center of Copenhagen. The film house is celebrating the art of photography by showing a number of unique films by and about prominent photographers – from Muybridge and Newton to Nan Goldin, Sally Man, Jette Bang and Steen Møller Christensen.
Several screenings are followed by a talk about the film and photographer. We look forward to seeing you at Cinemateket!
Programme at the Cinemateket
From 6 to 17 June, you can find :
6 June - 'What Remains: The Life and Work of Sally Mann' by Steven Cantor
9 June - 'All the Beauty and the Bloodshed' by Laura Poitras
10 June - 'Exposing Muybridge' by Mark Shaffer
10 June - 'Helmuth Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful' by Gero von Boehm
14 June - 'Flash of a Dream' by Robert Michael Fox
14 June - 'Helmuth Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful' by Gero von Boehm
16 June - 'Exposing Muybridge' by Mark Shaffer
17 June - 'Flash of a Dream' by Robert Michael Fox
17 June - 'All the Beauty and the Bloodshed' by Laura Poitras
How to participate?
Ticket price: 85 kr. (55 kr. for members).
Read more about the programme and buy your ticket at Cinemateket
Festival warm up at our partner venues
Image credit: Roger Ballen is part of Des Oiseaux opening at Landskrona Photo 12 May
Pop-ups, exhibition openings, artist talks – what is happening this week? Until the festival opens we will highlight current events in our weekly newsletter and Instagram account to help you navigate the many events and exhibitions.
Sign up here for the newsletter
Only four weeks to go before we can celebrate the Grand opening of Copenhagen Photo Festival 2023 on 1 June together. We are looking so much forward to it this year and the many great events, performances and talks we will sprinkle on top!
However, you may have noticed that several of our partner venues have already begun the celebration of contemporary photography and camera-based art across our region ahead of us and we can only encourage you to explore all the available exhibitions and events now in our exhibition programme, e.g. Refik Anadol at Arken, Marie Hald at Det nationalhistoriske museum, Hyung S. Kim at M/S Maritime Museum, Richard Prince at Louisiana and much more.
Get an overview below or click here to explore the programme
Image Credits: Maja Daniels at Galleri Format / Janne Klerk at Johannes Larsen Museum / Richard Prince at Louisiana Museumof Modern art
Celebrating photo books!
Image credit: Leporello by Louise Bøgelund Saugmann at Blankt Papir Press
The photo book has a special place in most photographers' hearts – as well as in the hearts of many photography lovers. This year, Copenhagen Photo Festival, together with selected partners, has therefore chosen to give special space and attention to the photo book. We look forward to enjoying lots of inspirational photo books and talks all over the city.
The festival has this year teamed up with the Kunstforeningen GL STRAND to present a special festival photo book market in the center of Copenhagen with around +20 publishers and actors as well as a day-long talk and screening program on the 4 June.
Indulging in photographic narratives at GL STRAND
We look forward to welcoming both photo book publishers, artists, festival guests and art gallery visitors to a day indulged in photo books, talks and screenings in the art gallery’s beautiful hall decorated by Erik A. Frandsen.
The market is the perfect place to visit if you want to keep in touch with contemporary Nordic photo books. And if the weather is nice the gallery will open the courtyard and outdoor bar to the visitors.
You can find the full list of exhibitors and the talk & screening programme (which will be announced primo May) in our focus section. If you have a festival ticket you get free entrance to the photo book market and half price on the entrance to see the exhibitions at The art association GL STRAND 4 June.
Talks at Thiemer’s
Likewise, every day during the festival period, a local cultural hotspot for books and coffee on Frederiksberg, Thiemers Magasin, invites festival guests to visit their photo book exhibition and a daily happy hour from 5 to 6 pm called ‘Sign & Talk & Drink’. Here photographers talk about their recent work and practice in relation to the photo book. The full talk programme will be announced primo May.
Celebrating the best of photo books at Refshaleøen
In addition, the festival is very happy to host Paris Photo and the Aperture Foundation's celebration of the past year's prize-winning photo books in the festival center on Refshaleøen this year.
2022 marked the 10th anniversary of the Paris Photo-Aperture Photobook Awards – a celebration of the photobook’s contributions to the evolving narrative of photography. The award recognizes excellence in 3 major categories of photobook publishing: First PhotoBook, PhotoBook of the Year, and Photography Catalogue of the Year.
The exhibition of the 35 books shortlisted for the 2022 PhotoBook Awards was exhibited at the Grand Palais Ephémère during Paris Photo in November and has recently been on view in Printed Matter in New York City – thereafter the exhibition will tour internationally and reach Copenhagen in June where it will be presented at the festival center on Refshaleøen.
Find our photo book focus here
Hvad sker der på fotoscenen?
English below
Hvem har lige udgivet en fed fotobog? Hvilken udstilling er et must-see? Og var der ikke noget med en fantastisk film om fire kvindelige fotografer i Grand for nylig?
Vi i teamet bag CPF har ofte savnet et sted, hvor man kunne orientere sig om dansk og nordisk fotografi. Det er vi måske ikke de eneste, der har. Måske ville vores mange fotoengagerede følgere faktisk også blive glade for anbefalinger til den næste tankevækkende fotooplevelse?
Vi ved det ikke. For vi har hverken lavet en brugerundersøgelse eller fokusgrupper. Det er blot en mavefornemmelse. Men vi ved, at vi er godt orienteret i fotomiljøet og ofte også får skønne tips om fantastiske fotooplevelser. Desværre har vi ikke altid haft mulighed for at dele dem.
Et naturligt samlingspunkt
Så måske skulle vi gøre en indsats for at dele dem og selv være det samlingspunkt? I vores arbejde har vi helt naturligt snitflader til mange forskellige aktører på fotoscenen – fra kunstnere, gallerier og museer til dokumentarfotografer, fotobogforlag og mange internationale samarbejdspartnere.
Få nyheder fra fotoscenen i din indbakke
Derfor har vi nu besluttet at gå i luften og simpelthen prøve et format af, hvor vi deler vores personlige anbefalinger og aktuelt nyt fra primært den danske fotoscene i vores nyhedsbrev. Ambitionen er at sende noget ud ca. hver anden eller tredje uge.
Vi håber, I vil tage vel imod det – det er som I fornemmer stadig under udvikling! Vi tager derfor rigtig gerne imod tips og konstruktiv feedback på konceptet. Kontakt os på info@copenhagenphotofestival.com
Hvis du ikke allerede abonnerer på vores nyhedsbrev, kan du skrive dig op her
_________
What's happening on the Nordic photo scene?
Shout out to all our lovely followers in the Nordic countries! Get our best tips and recommendations to photo exhibitions, events, books and more: Our new photo recommendation initiative is now live via our newsletter!
We – in the team behind CPF – have often longed for a place to get the latest news about Danish and Nordic photography. We are probably not the only ones. Maybe a lot of our photo enthusiastic audience would actually also appreciate qualified recommendations for the next thought provoking photo exhibition, engaging photo talk or joyful photo book?
Get news about the photo scene via our newsletter
We actually do not know – we have not made a user survey or a focus group. It is just a gut feeling – our passion jolting! Therefore we have now decided to try a new format out, where we will share our recommendations and news from primarily the Danish photo scene in our newsletter.
Our ambition is to publish the recommendations in Danish to our Nordic audience every two or three weeks to test the format. Our hope is to follow up with recommendations in English too for our international newsletter followers.
Sign up here
We hope you will! And do not hesitate to contact us if you have any tips for exhilarating photo events in the Nordic region via press@copenhagenphotofestival.com
Exhibition space, artist studio or DJ venue?
Header photo: Victoria Langenecker
Are you looking for a unique, alternative setting for your next event, exhibition, or workshop? Our festival playground and venue on Refshaleøen, FRAME, might be the perfect setting for you! We use the venue each year in June, but we think that it deserves to live all year and host many more spectacular events.
Flexible spaces at affordable prices
With the Copenhagen skyline as a backdrop, our venue FRAME and its surroundings are the perfect setting for a wide range of events. It is a multifunctional building that can be re-designed to meet your specific needs or used as it is for many purposes – from exhibition space, photo studio, film location, to DJ venue, workspace or dark room!
It is possible to rent just one room or up to four rooms inside FRAME at the moment – as well as the terrasse area and courtyard outside. The basic rental price is very affordable compared to other event spaces in Copenhagen and we will happily to forward you more material on the specific rooms or send you a quote for your specific event.
360-view of Refshaleøen
FRAME is a two-storey building, designed and built by the Copenhagen Photo Festival team via a sustainable and innovative process made of recycled shipping containers and is located on the former berth of the B&W shipyard for building large ship hulls. Its rooftop allows you to have a 360° view over Refshaleøen and Copenhagen.
It is located in the heart of Refshaleøen – Copenhagen’s new cultural hot spot – right in the sweet spot between Michelin-starred restaurant Alchemist, Copenhagen Contemporary, Lille Bakery and Reffen – Copenhagen Street Food.
👉🏼 Read more about FRAME and take a drone tour of the area
Contact us for more info or a quote
If you want us to FRAME your next event, contact us at info@copenhagenphotofestival.com // +45 4244 2010
We look forward to hearing your ideas and realizing your event vision!
Help us get better!
Photo: Skabertrang by Aftenskolen Fountain House at Den Sociale Blomsterhave, photo by Hans Vedsted.
We are very curious to hear how your experience of this year’s Copenhagen Photo Festival was? What did you like? What would you like more of and how can the festival best meet your expectations in the future?
As a festival that wants to evolve creatively and organically, meet our visitors in the best possible way and present new innovative exhibitions, emerging and established artists as well as present you with great events in a nice setting, we are always open to suggestions, constructive ideas and new partnerships.
It only takes 5 minutes!
We therefore hope you will use 5 minutes of your time to fill out a short survey about your festival experience. You can also fill it out, if you did not attend. Either way you may have ideas, comments or suggestions for new paths or partnerships for the festival that could be interesting for us.
If you participate you get the chance to win two tickets for next year's festival. We will find the winner 15 August.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Click here for the English survey
Klik her for at få spørgsmålene på dansk
Photo Festival Blues?
Photo: Lee Miller, solarisation self-portrait
We know the feeling: When all the enriching experiences of the 11 days of festival fun stop and the festival closes down, an urgent feeling of emptiness can set in. However, this year we have made plans to ease your festival blues. We have kept an eye out for lens-based exhibitions opening after the festival. This week three exhibitions open in Copenhagen at Basement in Vesterbro, The Royal Library and at GL Strand.
Emerging artists from KBH Film- og Fotoskole
At the independent exhibition space Basement on Vesterbro you can experience the works of this year's young, emerging artists graduating from KBH Film & Footskole from 16 june to 19 June – so do not hesitate to stop by. It is always enriching to get a peak into the projects of future art photographers. The exhibiting artists are: Ellen Hartmann Andersen, Yasmin Jalilian, Malek Bigum Ben Habhab, Siri Thorup, Pedersen, Oline Nordengaard, Elisabeth Vicoria Friis, Jón Helgi Pálmason, Kasper Søholt, Ditte Blom Nielsen, Anna Murmann Olesen, Emil Pril, Rosa Tiedje Løkken, Julie Marie Rustad, Sara-Sofie Mahony, Sigrid Ellesøe Nielsen, Niels Lensvold, Maria Buhl Christensen, Martin Belusa, Thea Tønnesvang, Emma Fager, Dicte Hostrup Sønnichsen, Josephine Motet Jessen, Sarah Arge.
Dazzling photographs by Lee Miller
The Royal Library also opens a must-see exhibition on 16 June about the photographer, model, business woman, war correspondent and gourmet chef, Elizabeth “Lee” Miller. She lived an extraordinary life herself and on top of that she was also a dazzling photographer. She both documented and played with the photographic medium: The war photographs documenting the horrors of World War II as well as he playful surreel compositions that circled around the fluctuating role of women.
Curator talk and world class contemporary art photography at GL Strand
This week another must-see photography exhibition opens at GL Strand. South African visual activist Zanele Muholi (b.1972) came to prominence in the early 2000s with photographs that told the stories of black lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and intersex lives in South Africa. Today, Zanele Muholi is one of the most significant artists on the international scene. The exhibition at GL STRAND is the first major presentation of Muholi’s work to date in Denmark and includes more than 100 works documenting LGBTQI + in South Africa and presenting the full breadth of Muholi’s career to date. The Exhibition is organized by Tate Modern in collaboration with Kunstforeningen GL Strand, Copenhagen and Bildmuseet at Umeå University.
On 17 June you can meet Yasufumi Nakamori, Senior Curator of International Art (Photography) at Tate Modern in conversation with GL STRAND’s chief curator Anne Kielgast about his collaboration with Zanele Muholi and the making of the exhibition, which is the artist’s first major survey exhibition. The exhibition is curated by Tate Modern in collaboration with GL STRAND. Following the talk there will be a celebration of the opening of the exhibition.
NB! As a special treat, everyone with a Copenhagen Photo Festival 2022 ticket get a 50% discount on the entrance of this exhibition from 18 to 23 June.
Virtual gaming worlds at Øksnehallen
25 June you can experience another type of exhibition, when Øksnehallen opens the exhibition, New Worlds Emerge. The exhibition is part of a collaboration with Fotografisk Center, which shows Char Davies' virtual worlds all summer with Osmose. The exhibition explores the field of video games and how they emerge out of the minds of the creators. The exhibition is not strictly photographic but explores a border country where photography, video and fictitious worlds connects.
A Big Heartfelt Thank You
Video: Sonia Tomegros Regalado / @noia_de_mon
We want to thank everyone who made Copenhagen Photo Festival 2022 so very special. We are so happy for every single visit to the festival venue and at all the festival partner venues across Copenhagen and Scania – we are grateful you were part of this year's festival!
And of course we also want to thank everyone who made this year’s Festival Center so very special and worth the visit: Our three international solo artists, Hien Hoang, Alexandra Rose Howland and Krista Svalbonas, Tofu Collective’s exhibition at the Space Frame with Chinese artists Luo Yang and Lin Zhipeng, DMJX’s presentation of three photo journalistic talents Jesper Houborg, Louise Herrche and Mads Frost, Odesa Photo Days’ two exhibitions Granny by Olena Morozova, the group exhibition The Thin Line and the Norwegian curator Charlotte Wiig’s group exhibition of a host of female photographers called A Female Gaze and not least the five selected FUTURES Nordic Talents, Iben Gad, Tine Bek, Oscar Scott Carl, Inuuteq Storch and Luna Scales.
Thank you to our generous supporters and helping hands
We are also grateful for all the generous supporters financing the exhibitions: Københavns Kommune, Det Obelske Familie Fond, Creative Europe Programme, Nordic Counsel of Ministers and Værksted for fotografi as well as all the helpful and supportive volunteers and staff that make this festival physically appear at all.
Last but not least we want to thank everyone arranging events and exhibitions around Copenhagen and Scania from the many festival partner venues, the gallery walks and artist talks to DJ sets, sound and image equipment people and all the people engaging with the amazing world of contemporary photography – we genuinely appreciate your flexibility, engagement, good work and happy spirits – we love to make this festival with you!