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
Closing event+talk // Mads Nissen – SANGRE BLANCA // Unveiling of 2024 theme + Open Call kick off
Closing event // Festival center 4-5 pm
To mark the closing of Copenhagen Photo Festival 2023 and connect to the 2024 edition we invite you to join the closing event at our festival center.
Festival director Maja Dyrehauge Gregersen will unveil next year’s theme and introduce the headliner in 2024, three time World Press Photo recipient Mads Nissen, who is also closely connected to the theme. The unveiling is followed by a talk by Mads Nissen. The unveiling also marks the launch of the 2024 Open Call.
Mads Nissen will introduce his project SANGRE BLANCA made in a unique collaboration with artist Juan Arreaza (Colombia). The project will be exhibited at next year’s festival and delves into the murky depths of the cocaine trade and reflects upon the human consequences of the world’s favourite party drug.
The closing event takes place in the festival tipi tent in the center of the festival exhibition park on Refshaleøen. The talk is free with a festival ticket.
NB Limited seating – so be on time to secure a seat.
PROGRAMME
16.00-16.15 Introduction and unveiling of next year's festival theme by festival director Maja Dyrehauge Gregersen
16.15-17.00 Talk with headliner in CPF 2024 Mads Nissen about his and Juan Arrazea's work with SANGRE BLANCA.
17.00-20.00 Last chance to grab a drink, explore the merch shop or tour the festival exhibitions at Beddingen for 2023.
About Mads Nissen
For Mads Nissen (Denmark, 1979) photography is all about empathy - creating understanding and intimacy while confronting contemporary social issues such as inequality, human rights violations, and our destructive relationship with nature.
He is a three-time recipient of the main prize at World Press Photo. Winner of the 2022 Visa d’Ornand announced as the 2022 ‘International Photographer of the Year’ at POY. He has worked in Colombia since 2006 and published three books, latest We Are Indestructible (GOST) about the multi-layered seams of the Colombian conflict.
About Juan Arreaza
Juan Arreaza’s (1981) artwork is expressed in paintings, drawings, and installations. He touches on topics such as post-colonialism, indigenous identity and the questions of truth, responsibility, and forgiveness in relation to Colombia’s quest for peace. He holds a Master in ‘Drawing and Painting’ from the Florence Academy of Art, Italy, and among his work is a 3.5-meter-high bronze sculpture for The Colombian Reconciliation Program in memory of the victims of the conflict. His work has been exhibited across Colombia, the USA but also in Europe at, among others, the Venice Biennale (2017).