2021
Futures nordic talents
Since 2017, FUTURES, a photography platform co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, has nurtured the development of emerging talents selected by partner art institutions and festivals across Europe.
For its fourth edition, Copenhagen Photo Festival joined FUTURES and created a new programme focusing on Nordic talent: FUTURES NORDIC TALENTS.
The programme kick-started in January 2021 with an open talent search for upcoming and recent graduates in art or documentary photography residing in the Nordics; includes Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland. In February 2021, our Program Committee selected five artists to participate in a series of activities in the spring, including portfolio reviews and Master Classes with leading experts.
As an integral part of our festival we showcased the five finalists’ works at our exhibition park at Refshaleøen in June 2021. As the focus of FUTURES NORDIC TALENTS is also experimentation, the finalists exhibited their works in solo Camera Houses, designed and built by Bachelor architecture students from the Institute of Architecture and Design, Royal Danish Academy. In addition, the five finalists took part in artists’ talks and activities at the festival.
In the autumn of 2021, the finalists also took part in various activities, including personalized consultations in printing and mounting at Artproof in Estonia, met their European photography peers at a FUTURES’ event, as well as published their works in two FUTURES’ publications.
Our FUTURES NORDIC TALENTS finalists are:
Io Sivertsen (Norway), Nanna Navntoft (Denmark), Essi Maaria Orpana (Finland), Lars Dyrendom (Sweden) and Hrafn Jónsson (Krummi) (Iceland).
Our Program Committee has also given special mentions to two other artists for their applications: Laura Konttinen (Finland) and Marie Anine Møller (Denmark).
The five unique Camera Houses have been designed and built by Bachelor students from the Institute of Architecture and Design, Royal Danish Academy, under the supervision of Architect and teacher Kristian Hansen, from Marstal Søfartsmuseum. Head of the Bachelor program is Architect, Associate Professor Jacob Sebastian Bang.
Students from the Royal Danish Academy; Carl Emil Krogholm Augustesen, Josephine Bailey, Mariela Andrea Bergum-Conteh, Kristin Cuhra, Amalie Bonde Fabricius, Ida Forssén, Christine Dellgren Geneser, Trygg Sigbjørn Østhagen Hamar, Carl Emil Haslev, Emma Svarre Hjerrild, Magnus Tollnes Kjærnes, Louise August Kryger, Isabella Eid Larsen, Alice Lindstrøm, Phillip Kruse McKay, Victoria Amalie Dam Nielsen, Rókur Dam Norðoy, Emma Louise Rasmussen, Marie Jul Scharff, Emilie Schleppegrel, Philip Mar Serejo, Fie Filippa Koll Svensen, Elisabeth Friis Torp.
NANNA NAVNTOFT, Notes on Binge Eating Disorder (2018-2021)
Notes on Binge-Eating-Disorder (BED) is a portrait series of sufferers from the eating disorder, documenting both them and what the eating disorder compels them to do.
Few people know about the phenomena, but Binge eating disorder (BED) is the most widespread eating disorder in Denmark, with between 40.000 and 50.000 sufferers. It is a severe, life-threatening disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of eating large quantities of food. Obsessive thoughts about food are with them at all times.
Suffering from BED is closely related with bad self-esteem, often a difficult childhood, sometimes abuse and a life centered around weight loss. Although BED is the most widespread eating disorder in Denmark, there are very few opportunities to receive treatment. Recently WHO released the new international classification of diseases (ICD 11), which includes BED as a recognised eating disorder, which came into effect on January 2022.
Notes on Binge-Eating-Disorder (BED) was presented at the festival in the form of images and a publication which included interviews with sufferers of BED.
The Camera House presenting Notes on Binge Eating Disorder by Nanna Navntoft was designed and built by Carl Emil Haslev, Carl Emil Augustensen, Phillip McKay and Philip Mar Serejo, Bachelor students from the Institute of Architecture and Design, Royal Danish Academy, under the supervision of Architect and teacher Kristian Hansen, from Marstal Søfartsmuseum. Head of the Bachelor program is Architect, Associate Professor Jacob Sebastian Bang.
BIO
Nanna Navntoft (b. 1988) is a Danish photographer based in Copenhagen. After graduating with a BA in geography and communications, she started studying photojournalism at the Danish School of Media and Journalism (DMJX). Her work deals with social topics and mental health, which she mainly explores through intimate portraiture. As part of her education she worked at the Danish daily newspaper, Dagbladet Politiken before continuing her studies at The Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (KABK). She graduated in January 2020 and is now working freelance.
BIO
Essi Maaria Orpana (b.1988) is a visual artist based in Helsinki with a background in photography and video. Orpana studied a BA in Visual Arts from Turku University of Applied Science Art Academy as well as Fine Arts at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain. In 2021 she graduated with an MA in Photography at Aalto University, School of Arts.
Characteristic to her practice is to perform for, or with, the camera. In this way her artistic approach is personal, flavoured with an uncanny twist.
ESSI MAARIA ORPANA, SUCH IS THE SILENCE (2019-2021)
Inspired by visits to abandoned houses in Valencia, Spain, Such is the Silence addresses our corporeal connection to time and place.
In this series of work, Orpana poses for and with the camera, creating a narrative and tension between the place and her own presence. She explains, “As I step into the room, my subconscious starts to form narratives of fictitious past events that I recreate through the character depicted in the images that I call Miss Silence.”
Through the presence of Miss Silence the rooms come to life once again. Yet without shared memories or a connection to the houses, a tension is created between the place and Orpana’s own presence, subtly navigating timelessly—neither in the past nor the present—on the borderlines of truth and fiction.
From the layers of time lurking in the corners of the rooms, Such is the Silence also addresses questions of existence, identity and memories: Whose past is present when spending time in these houses? What happened in these rooms a hundred years ago?
Such is the Silence (2019-2021) was presented as an installation consisting photographs, a video, wallpaper and found objects—creating a story-like installation where each part was in a dialogue with the other.
The Camera House presenting Such is the Silence by Essi Maaria Orpana was designed and built by Josephine Bailey, Amalie Bonde Fabricius, Isabella Eid Larsen, Emilie Schleppegrel and Elisabeth Friis Torp, Bachelor students from the Institute of Architecture and Design, Royal Danish Academy, under the supervision of Architect and teacher Kristian Hansen, from Marstal Søfartsmuseum. Head of the Bachelor program is Architect, Associate Professor Jacob Sebastian Bang.
Her participation was supported by the Finnish Cultural Institute in Denmark and FRAME Finland.
IO SIVERTSEN, LET’S TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER (2019-2021)
Let’s Talk About the Weather simultaneously addresses our relationship with weather as well as Sivertsen’s own relationship to her father. This personal story and dilemma—an inter-generational difference of opinion with a parent—meets the realities and complexities of the global climate crisis heads-on.
“My father doesn’t believe climate change is caused by rising human emissions. But I do. This work encompasses my relationship with him, while simultaneously describing my relationship to our climate. It is a satirical approach to a very serious issue, blurring the lines of personal experiences and facts. Because it is very difficult to believe something that is not visible yet, this is an intuitive exploration on how climate change manifests itself.”
With this project, Sivertsen underlines how difficult it is to believe in something that is not yet visible. We need mediators, such as weather reporters, who talk about the future; a place, a time and a sensation or scenario that does not exist yet, or cannot be imagined. At the same time, weather reporters also act as mediators of climate change.
Presenting this intuitive exploration on how climate change manifests itself, Let’s Talk About the Weather consists of a multimedia presentation with a video, video stills, photographs, and a publication.
The Camera House presenting Let's Talk About the Weather by Io Sivertsen was designed and built by: Emma Louise Rasmussen, Christine Dellgren Geneser, Fie Filippa Koll Svensen , Mariela Andrea Bergum-Conteh and Marie Jul Scharff, Bachelor students from the Institute of Architecture and Design, Royal Danish Academy, under the supervision of Architect and teacher Kristian Hansen, from Marstal Søfartsmuseum. Head of the Bachelor program is Architect, Associate Professor Jacob Sebastian Bang.
Io Sivertsen’s project and participation was supported by The Norwegian Embassy in Copenhagen and her video work ‘Let’s Talk About the Weather’ was supported by Canon Denmark.
BIO
Io Sivertsen (b. 1994) is a photographer and filmmaker and graduated from The Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, based in Norway and the Netherlands, and currently attending the Master Program at the Norwegian Film Academy, Oslo.
Her work explores the boundary between truth and fiction. Using reality as a starting point, image-making anchors the subject matter in her own personal perspective. Depicted themes include technology, internet culture, sexuality and identity. Alongside her practice she has initiated and developed short-films, exhibitions and a film festival. She is the co-founder of the independent film festival Cinema Underexposed, a The Hague based platform aimed for new voices and perspectives. In 2020 she attended the Canon Student Development Programme at Visa Pour l’Image. Her work has been exhibited in diverse exhibitions at museums, galleries and platforms across Europe. Her works have also been published in Morgenbladet, Aftenposten and Zweikommasieben magazine.
BIO
Krummi (b.1990) is a Reykjavik-based photographer and graduated from his
education in photography at Ljósmyndaskólinn in 2021. By adhering to the seemingly simple and straightforward medium most of us engage with every day, Krummi is able to push himself forward and engage with his environment. He rattles on, maneuvering through the obstacle course of his everyday life with his unconventional walking pattern—a clumsy flâneur.
Hrafn Jónsson (KRUMMI), SKRÖLT III (2020)
Krummi was a teenager when he became disabled. Through his relationship with the photographic medium he has come to see that whether he is able, less able, more able or disable, he is always, in some way, able.
Skrölt III is the most recent part of a larger, ongoing series spanning over three years in which Krummi photographed his neighbourhood and closest surroundings in Reykjavik—typically returning again and again to the same places, sometimes daily.
His most recent works were created during the pandemic in 2020. He explains, “My perception of my everyday became foreign, reality became unreal, days lost their colour and seemed motionless. This strange mood, coupled with curiosity and my camera compelled me to rattle on and turn complex, even unknown thoughts and feelings into photographs.“
Skrölt III was presented with twelve works displayed from various vantage points from ground level, raised, to hung echoing his visual perspectives of his surroundings created by his unique physical limitations.
The Camera House presenting SKÖLT III by Hrafn Jónsson (KRUMMI) was designed and built by Alice Lindstrøm, Ida Forssén, Rókur Dam Norðoy, Kristin Cuhra and Victoria Amalie Dam Nielsen, Bachelor students from the Institute of Architecture and Design, Royal Danish Academy, under the supervision of Architect and teacher Kristian Hansen, from Marstal Søfartsmuseum. Head of the Bachelor program is Architect, Associate Professor Jacob Sebastian Bang.
His participation was supported by Dansk-Islandsk Fond and The Reykjavik Human Rights fund.
LARS DYRENDOM, GL/DK (2018-ongoing)
GL/DK captures a Danish national gaze towards Greenland and Greenlanders and as well Dyrendom’s own perspective—as a Dane who has never visited Greenland. Growing up in Denmark, Greenland was present for him on many levels; from the education at school, children’s television, public debates, and Eskimo ice cream in the summer.
This series highlights the Denmark/Greenland relations and challenges the ever-existing colonial gaze—despite Greenland having been freed from its colonial status in 1953.
For this ongoing project, Dyrendom has documented and reappropriated items from archives in Denmark. His practice is methodic and complex, addressing specific topics, collections or archives, and arranging them in sub-categories. Each project is an independent series that together highlight the structures that are embedded in the Danish view of Greenland.
Through a myriad of conversations with very different people and approaches towards photography he engages in dialogue with others to form the core of how he presents his works. This ongoing project evolves with each presentation or audience, each a unique presentation with new additions or compositions of images, texts and other media.
For Dyrendom, photographs in an archive or collection often have no beginning or end, but they exist in layers. When moving in-between these layers, norms and structures emerge, as well as political and ideological meanings, but also human experiences and emotions. Whilst works from the different series may appear visually different from each other, they become interwoven by their form of presentation.
GL/DK was presented with a set of archival images and in two publications with texts by Naja Dyrendom Graugaard and Martine Lind Krebs.
The Camera House presenting GL/DK by Lars Dyrendom was designed and built by Emma Svarre Hjerrild, Magnus Tollnes Kjærnes, Trygg Sigbjørn Østhagen Hamar and Louise August Kryger, Bachelor students from the Institute of Architecture and Design, Royal Danish Academy, under the supervision of Architect and teacher Kristian Hansen, from Marstal Søfartsmuseum. Head of the Bachelor program is Architect, Associate Professor Jacob Sebastian Bang.
His participation was supported by the Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture.
BIO
Lars Dyrendom (b. 1981) is an artist based in Sweden and in 2020 graduated from The MFA Program in Photography, Valand Academy University of Gothenburg. His artistic practice revolves around photographic archives and collections. A returning theme in his works is how humans as groups behave and act in relation to their surrounding and environment.
Dialogue has become increasingly intrinsic to his methods and artistic practice. It was prompted by his dyslexia, and the need to have people checking over his texts several times and giving their input. With this, texts evolved and expanded through collaborations. Throughout his work Dyrendom strives to create a dialogue with the people he meets, valuing the interactions as an opportunity to learn from their knowledge about the material and themes he explores.
SPONSORS AND PARTNERS
The FUTURES NORDIC TALENTS programme is supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers, Nordic Culture Point, Futures Photography and Creative Europe, The Finnish Institute in Denmark, Artproof/Estonia, FRAME Finland, The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Copenhagen, Dansk-Islandsk Fond, the Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture, The Reykjavik Human Rights fund, and Canon.
We wish to thank our key partner Institut for Byging og Æstetik, The Royal Danish Academy for co-creation of the architectural framework of the exhibition.
The festival centre and CPF has generously been supported by Københavns Kommune, Det Obelske Familiefond and Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond.
