Workshop // Wet plate photography
Workshop // 2 to 7 pm
This afternoon we welcome you to go back to the roots of photography and delve into the magic of the 19th century tecnique of wet plate photography with the professional photographer and board member of Dansk Selskab for Fotografi, Henrik Wichmann.
We will work on spawning collodion on the aluminum plates, putting them in a silver bath, photographing with old cameras, developing and fixing in the darkroom.
It should all end with you getting a real wet plate photograph home with you. However, with this technique you never quite know what will come out of it, and that is exactly what makes the technique so super exciting to work with.
NB Since we are working with chemistry that can cause stains on the clothes that cannot be removed again, it would be a good idea to use clothes from an older date.
The workshop only has room for 6 people and you can sign up by sending an email via the email link below and mobil pay the fee of DKK 500 to +45 2990 0114
Join us for the Grand Opening 1 June!
Image credit: Kristina Knipe, solo artist 2023
We have been looking so much forward to this! Finally we can invite you to the Grand Opening of Copenhagen Photo Festival 2023 and unveil an amazing programme for a lovely afternoon in great company on 1 June – we look forward to celebrating contemporary photography in the Danish capital for the 13th time with you!
The Grand Opening 2023 of Copenhagen Photo Festival is celebrated with happy hour, DJ, a ‘rewilded’ photo performance and guided tours by the exhibiting artists and curators in our venue FRAME and the surrounding exhibition park.
A rewildet festival experience
The 2023 edition has a particular focus on the overarching theme, ‘rewilding’, and Copenhagen as UNESCO’s World Capital of Architecture in 2023. From 1 to 11 June the festival center and the surrounding wilderness will host no less than 13 exhibitions with around 60 artists and numerous performances, talks, workshops and family activities full of creativity and experimentation.
Exhibitions opening at the festival center
Hiding from Baba Yaga // Nanna Heitmann · Photographs of British Algae - AI Impressions // Craig Ames · Talisman // Kristina Knipe · Almost all the flowers in my mothers garden // Hilla Kurki · The Sunshiners; Code Red in Green China // Daniel Hinks · The bird project // Erik Berglin · On the Verge // FUTURES group exhibition · 2022 Paris Photo – Aperture Photo Book Awards · IMPACT // Atla · DMJX · KBH Film&Fotoskole · Oslo Met · VERA skole for kunst og design
The opening event is free and open for all from 4 to 7 pm
We look forward to seeing you!
Best wishes
Copenhagen Photo Festival
Check out all exhibitions and activities at the festival center
Explore the exhibition programme 2023!
Image credit: Joakim Eskildsen / Fotografisk Center
Copenhagen Photo Festival can today announce the final exhibition program with the overarching theme of ‘rewilding’. An ambitious theme that is not only brought into play in the festival center on Refshaleøen, but also unfolds across the festival partner venues, which include major institutions such as Arken, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, the Royal Library to the Maritime Museum, The Museum of National History and others.
When the Copenhagen Photo Festival starts in June, the exhibitions are not limited to Beddingen on Refshaleøen. With a wide range of exhibition partners, the Nordic region's largest photo festival also branches out to numerous of the capital's recognized art venues throughout the region with exhibitions in cities from Helsingør to Ishøj as well as Kerteminde on Fyn and Falsterbo in Sweden.
Copenhagen Photo Festival rewilds Copenhagen
During the festival, the festival theme of ‘rewilding’ is unfolded across our festival exhibition partners. At Nordatlantens Brygge, you can experience two exhibitions with photography and film that embrace the Greenlandic and Icelandic nature. The two exhibitions examine modern man's relationship with nature and remind us of the climate changes we are experiencing.
Not too far from there, at Harbo Bar in Nørrebro, Lene Harbo has curated an exhibition based on the photo festival's main theme of rewilding, based on the artist Yana Wernicke's exhibition Companions. In the photographs, the artist examines the human relationship with animals and shares rare and special moments of empathy and care with animals.
During the festival period, several of the festival's solo artists also rewild the urban space in Copenhagen. At Højbro Plads, the Finnish photographer Hilla Kurki exhibits her flower portraits, while English Craig Ames's AI-created algae images can be experienced at Thorvaldsens Plads throughout June. In Vesterbro, you can go exploring for wild, exotic birds when the Swedish artist Erik Berglin rewilds the walls of the district with his project The Bird Project.
This year's photo festival blooms from Helsingør and Landskrona to Ishøj and Kerteminde
The festival also invites guests from outside the capital to explore photography in collaboration with a number of local festival partners. In May, Landskrona Foto & Museum opens the group exhibition Des Oiseaux, which shows the fascination and fascination with birds of 13 international photographers, including the photographer Roger Ballen. In addition, the festival is also collaborating with Landskrona Foto on a special screening of one of this year's main names from the festival center, namely Craig Ames, who can therefore also be experienced outdoors in Sweden over the summer.
In Johannes Larsen Museum in Kerteminde you can experience the special exhibition Reflections by Janne Klerk. The photographs in the exhibition were taken in the water surface of the same small lake and raise a wide range of questions; about the refraction of light in water, about the ecosystem, the universe, the sun, the atmosphere and about reflections between people.
At the Maritime Museum in Helsingør, 26 monumental portraits of Haenyeo women, taken by Hyung S. Kim, are presented. Haenyeo women are deep-sea divers who live in South Korea and who for generations have lived by fishing in a very special way, and therefore live in close connection with the rhythm of the sea.
South of Copenhagen, at Arken in Ishøj, Refik Anadol's exhibition Winds of Denmark can be explored. Here he presents three digital installation works, all of which focus sharply on the mass media's visual representation of nature, and which thereby influence our perception of what nature is and how it looks.
Photo books get special attention
The photo book has a special place in most photographers' hearts. This year, Copenhagen Photo Festival, together with selected partners, has therefore chosen to give special space to the photo book as a format and has teamed up with Kunstforeningen GL STRAND to present a special festival photo book market with around 20 publishers and actors as well as a day-long talk and screening program on the 4 June. Likewise, every day during the festival period, Thiemers Magasin invites you inside for Sign & Talk & Drink, where current photographers talk about their work. In addition, Paris Photo and the Aperture Foundation's celebration of the past year's prize-winning photo books will guest the festival center on Refshaleøen this year.
NB The full program of activities for the festival is continuously updated on the website and is expected to be completely ready in the beginning of May.
The festival's photo book programme can be found here
List of exhibition partners
Atla · Banja Rathnov Kunsthandel og Galleri · Barbara Nolsøe · Bien Contemporary · Danish Architecture Center · Dark Gallery · Det Grønlandske Hus · Det nationale fotomuseum · Det Nationalhistoriske Museum · DMJX · FABRIKKEN for Kunst og Design · Falsterbo Fotomuseum · Fotografisk Center · Galleri Format · Galleri Møller Witt · Galleri Rocks · Kunstforeningen GL STRAND · Harbo Bar · Johannes Larsen Museet · KBH Film & Fotoskole · Kulturhuset Støberiet // Blågårdens bibliotek · Landskrona Foto · Louisiana Museum for Moderne Kunst · Martin Asbæk Gallery · Arden Asbæk Gallery · Nikolaj Kunsthal · Nordatlantens Brygge · Oblong · Oslo Met · Paul Pape x Inter.pblc · Prospekt Space · PRUST · Ryesgade – Kunst 86 · Simian · Stig Stasig Archive · M/S Museet for Søfart · Thiemers Magasin · Tingbjerg Kulturhus · Vandrehallen i Hillerød · VERA skole for kunst · Wei Weng x Copenwater x Big Bio
List of photo book publishers and people at the photo book market at Kunstforeningen GL STRAND 4 June
At Last Books · Blankt Papir Press · BOOK LAB · Books & Music · Breadfield Press · Disko Bay · Famn Publishing · Forlaget Aftryk · FORLAGET tidløs · Fragment · Jacob Aue Sobol · KATALOG – Journal of Photography & Video · Martin Asbæk Gallery · NW Gallery · Roulette Russe · Space Poetry · Strandberg Publishing · Tira Books
Exhibition // Nanna Heitmann - Hiding from Baba Yaga
Hiding from Baba Yaga is a project created along the Yenisei River in Russia and the wildness around it. This land has been for centuries a place where nature can exist freely and where nomadic people have settled. Most remote parts of it have also been the refuge for criminals, political escapees or adventurers. With Stalin, the Yenisei became a place of exile and forced labour. The shape of the land changed and big lakes were constructed; villages disappeared and the climate changed. Nowadays, with globalisation, people are more attracted to living in cities, but the Yenisei River continues to be a space for dreamers and loners to escape the worldly world. Baba Yaga is a character from the Slavic folklore portrayed as a witch in various fairy tales, like the one in which she chases a little girl named Vasilisa through the forest.
In her series Hiding from Baba Yaga, she portrays the people and the way of living in this area. Here, different people with different backgrounds come together. Among the protagonists there is Yuri who lives along the river and came here because all his friends died from alcohol or drugs. Further away lives Valentin, a self-proclaimed anarch-ecologist who moved here after being traumatised by the war. All those stories are drastically different from one another and show different life situations. Despite everything, they all ended up at the same place and are somehow connected by the Yenisei River: a land of freedom and escapism from a tough reality.
WOMANKIND - Call for women!
Image credit: Barbara Nolsøe
Do you want to celebrate your body and womanhood? Are you not afraid of cameras? Do you want to feel more confident in your body? We have a special experience in store for you – and we need you!
For the Grand opening of Copenhagen Photo Festival, Barbara Nolsøe will “Rewild woman” by directing the last performance of WOMANKIND. For this project she will create a new group of volunteer women that agree to pose for her completely naked in a live performance in Refshaleøen, around the festival center.
The experience is way more than a photoshoot. The purpose of being naked is to allow women to really connect and embrace their bodies and to exist beyond the social norms and beauty standards. “If we connect we cannot compare” is the premise that frames the project and explores what happens to women’s self-image when they are naked together under the same premise. It’s time to take back the power!
On June 1st, for the Grand opening of the festival, Barbara Nolsøe will realise her last WOMANKIND performance.
Photographs will be taken during the performance and projected later in the evening on screen at the festival center.
This is a call for women! If you want to participate in this special performance contact Barbara Nolsøe directly here for more info.
Become a volunteer
Copenhagen Photo Festival is looking for creative, community-minded, and fun-seeking people to join our passionate group of volunteers who are coming together to create an amazing festival experience this summer in June.
Now you can sign up to become part of our engaged team of productive souls for the festival 2023. Whether it is selling tickets, building exhibitions, doing video and photo content or helping out as exhibition host, our volunteers play a central role during our festival in June.
Help us create the largest photo festival experience in the Nordic region
If you like photography, events, culture, art and busy days in an international environment, Copenhagen Photo Festival is the place for you! We’re looking for volunteers who are interested in working flexibly and who enjoys taking on various practical tasks and helping our festival guests feel welcome.
Depending on your wishes and experience, you can take on different types of tasks before, during or after the festival – from making photographic content to help build the festival site. There’s something here for everyone! Please note that volunteers are required to contribute a minimum of three (3) shifts before, during or after the Festival in June. You must +18 years old to be a volunteer.
On top of the inspired community experience all volunteers get a partout ticket to the festival and a goodiebag, with special products and offers centered around photography, culture, art and events.
Read more about the tasks and how to sign up
The festival headliners 2023
Image credit: Nanna Heitmann
Copenhagen Photo Festival is happy to announce the six solo artists who have been selected as this year's headliners at Copenhagen Photo Festival 2023. This summer, photographs will literally be sprouting all over Copenhagen, when the selected six photographers engage with the theme rewilding and present us with new perspectives on an important, current topic.
The six solo artists exhibiting at Copenhagen Photo Festival 2023 explore this year’s theme rewilding in the widest sense of the concept and the complexities it entails. From the rewilding of nature to climate issues and diversity to the rewilding of other spheres e.g. bodies, society, social structures or art in itself.
From Magnum and AI photography to rewilding street photos and flower portraits
Each artist present their own perspective on rewilding and engages with it in an intriguing way – from classic photography techniques , AI technology, 'rewilded' street photography to portrait photography with a green twist, critical climate narratives and documentary photos, where stories about identity, healing and belonging sprout in new ways.
The six announced solo artist for the 2023 festival are:
Rewilding dilemmas
The concept rewilding refers to a process of letting nature regulate itself without human interference. Instead of ‘caring’ for nature in a way that serves human purposes or profits, rewilding seeks to restore, repair, cure or even heal nature in a sustainable way that serves nature in itself and aids our gasping climate and biodiversity. The concept has flourished in recent years and proposes solutions but also contests existing (man-made) structures and power relations.
We look forward to presenting the works of each artist with a solo exhibition at our festival centre on Refshaleøen or in the public space of Copenhagen.
OPEN CALL 2023 – Last Call for Entries
The deadline for submissions for our OPEN CALL 2023 is rapidly approaching and we are looking so much forward to exploring your take on this year's theme: 'Rewilding'. You can of course read much more about the call via the link below, but most importantly please note that:
The deadline for submission is 1 November!
In the video below Maja Dyrehauge Gregersen, our very own festival director and member of the jury selecting the winners of the OPEN CALL 2023, takes us on a tour of the festival exhibition park on Refshaleøen and introduces the open call, the overarching theme of ‘rewilding’ and some of the many possible ways to approach the theme.
“What happens if we want to ‘rewild’ photography? Rewild photo journalism? The story? The snapshot?” - Festival Director Maja Dyrehauge Gregersen
Go to the open call submission page here
Learn more about the open call 2023 here
Open Call – Frequently Asked Questions
Photo credit: Christine Almlund
What are you looking for? What can be submitted? What’s the theme? What does it require? What can I win? Who can apply? When is the deadline? The deadline for the OPEN CALL 2023 is rapidly approaching, so to help you getting an overview of the process we have listed the answers to the most frequently asked questions below!
Who can apply?
The open call for CPF 2023 is for all photographers and artists who want to break new ground and challenge the idea of what photography is and can be, now and in the future. You can apply on your own or as a group – we are very open for fruitful and creative collaborations that make sense within this year’s overarching theme. So go ahead and grab your next door land artist or team up with an inspiring (landscape) architect, light designer or someone else who can challenge the medium of photography!
What’s the theme?
Copenhagen Photo Festival's theme for the open call in 2023 is 'Rewilding' – understood in its widest sense. We have chosen the theme to connect with the celebration of Copenhagen as UNESCO’s World Capital of Architecture, the sustainability theme and to build bridges to our own exhibition park situated in the urban wilderness of Beddingen on Refshaleøen, which used to be an industrial shipyard building site. We look forward to being rewilded!
What can I submit?
Photographic works or lens based projects in any form. We are looking for works within both the documentary tradition as well as within the field of art, so the span of genres is very wide. We are looking for lens based works that engage with the theme in an interesting way. We very much enjoy projects that dare to challenge the viewer, the medium, the genres or the exhibition format itself.
What does it require?
You have to submit a project description and at least 10 images of your project. You can only submit one project and it must not have been exhibited in Denmark before. To participate in the call you have to pay a fee of €47.
What can I win?
The winners will get the opportunity to have their own solo exhibition in the heart of the festival's exhibition park, a fee, financial support to travel and accommodation, targeted PR via our platforms, networking opportunities and much more.
What are you looking for?
We are looking for lens based works that engage with the theme in an interesting way – within both the documentary tradition as well as within the field of art. We very much enjoy projects that dare to challenge the viewer, the medium, the genres or the exhibition format itself.
What are you looking for?
We are looking for lens based works that engage with the theme in an interesting way – within both the documentary tradition as well as within the field of art. We very much enjoy projects that dare to challenge the viewer, the medium, the genres or the exhibition format itself.
Read more about the OPEN CALL 2023
Nominated to Byens Bedste 2022
English text below
Nomineret til Byens Bedste 2022
"Copenhagen Photo Festival rykkede igen i år ind på museer i København – med Refshaleøen som centrum. Som en af Europas største har festivalen et væld af interessante udstillinger og temaer at gå om bord i – i år blandt andet vietnamesiske Hien Hoang, som bidrog med »Asia Bistro – Made in Rice«, hvor hun stiller skarpt på indgroede forestillinger om asiatisk kultur.
Årets festival var også særlig, da den gav et indblik i krigen i Ukraine med udstillingen »The Thin Line«, som bestod af billeder taget af ukrainske fotografer, der skulle have udstillet på Odesa Photo Days. I stedet har de portrætteret krigen i både byer og på landet."
Sådan skriver Berlingske i deres indstilling til nomineringen af Copenhagen Photo Festival som Byens Bedste Oplevelse 2022.
Stem og hjælp os med at vinde
Vi er super stolte over at være blandt de blot fem nominerede i kategorien Byens Bedste Oplevelse 2022, for som Berlingske skriver “Der er altid noget at give sig til i København. Oplevelser venter om hvert et gadehjørne. Men hvilken oplevelse har været den bedste det seneste år?”
Vi håber naturligvis, at du synes, at vores fotofestival har været Byens Bedste Oplevelse i år. Festivalen fejrer fotografiet i store og små gallerier, museer og udstillingssteder i hele København samt i vores festivalcentrum på Refshaleøen.
Vi håber, at så mange som muligt vil bakke op og stemme på os. Det er et flot selskab af oplevelser, vi er nomineret sammen med, så hver stemme tæller! Vinderen findes dels via en åben afstemning samt af en Jury bestående af AOK-redaktionens genreredaktører.
Hop ind og stem på os her!
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Nominated to Byens Bedste 2022
What wonderful news! Copenhagen Photo Festival has just been nominated to Byens Bedste Oplevelse 2022 (Copenhagen’s Best Event 2022) by the Danish national newspaper Berlingske and its Copenhagen section AOK!!
We are so thrilled! The prize is given every year to the best event in Copenhagen – this year for the 21st time! We are super proud to be among the just five nominated in the category Byens Bedste Oplevelse. Because as Berlingske writes “There is always something to do in Copenhagen. New events/experiences are just around every street corner. But which one has been the best the past year?”
We really hope that you think that it is our festival! Copenhagen Photo Festival celebrates photography across Copenhagen in galleries, museums and exhibition spaces as well as at our Festival Center on Refshaleøen.
Help us win!
The winner of the best event of the city is found partly by votes and partly by a jury consisting of editors of the newspaper. The event with most votes obviously has a great advantage. Therefore we hope you will support our nomination – it would truly mean the world to us being a small non-profit festival! Please note you do not have to be a resident of Copenhagen or Denmark to participate in the vote – you can vote wherever you are in the world!
Hop in and vote for us here!