Open Call Shortlist 2023
THE FIRST FESTIVAL ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE SPRING
This year's open call shortlist is now official, and like a true harbinger of spring, it signals that this year's festival preparations are now really picking up speed. A total of nine artists have been selected from a strong field of several hundred photographers and artists from more than 40 countries, all of whom have engaged in the theme of 'rewilding'.
The shortlist reveals a widely branched field, where classic photo techniques, AI technology, 'rewilded' street photography and classic portrait photography with a green twist mix with critical climate narratives and images where stories about identity and belonging sprout in new ways.
We, Copenhagen Photo Festival, and the programme committee would like to thank all of this year's open call applicants. It has been a pleasure to experience the inspiring approaches to the theme and not least the diverse and innovative palette of photographic tools that the artists have used.
We look forward to unveiling the selected solo artists exhibiting at the festival this summer on March 1st.
See the all the shortlisted artists
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FORÅRETS FØRSTE FESTIVALSBEBUDER
Årets open call shortlist blev i denne uge offentliggjort på vores hjemmeside, og som en ægte forårsbebuder signalerer den, at årets festivalforberedelser nu for alvor tager fart. I alt ni kunstnere er blevet udvalgt blandt et stærkt felt på flere hundrede fotografer og kunstnere fra mere end 40 lande, der alle har engageret sig i temaet 'rewilding'.
Shortlisten afslører et vidt forgrenet felt, hvor klassiske fototeknikker, AI-teknologi, 'rewildet' street fotografi og klassisk portrætfotografi med et grønt tvist blander sig med kritiske klimafortællinger og billeder, hvor fortællinger om identitet og tilhørsforhold spirer på nye måder.
Vi, Copenhagen Photo Festival, og programudvalget ønsker at takke alle årets open call ansøgere. Det har været en fornøjelse at opleve de inspirerende tilgange til temaet samt ikke mindst den mangfoldige og nyskabende palette af fotografiske værktøjer, som kunstnerne har benyttet.
Vi ser frem til at løfte sløret for de udvalgte solokunstnere, der udstiller på festivalen til sommer, den 1. marts.
Se alle de shortlistede kunstnere her
Colour Up Your Black Week – Support the Arts
Photo credit: Farzad Soleimani
Black Week is upon us and maybe you also feel the weight of consumerism on your shoulders? In that case we want to give you an art loving Black Friday alternative that can colour up the blackest week of the year!
As a special treat we have planned a classic two-for-one offer: you get to both support the arts (aka CPF) and you get free festival entrance at next year’s festival 1-11 June for just DKK 200. What a treat!
A supportive gesture
“Why should I do this? What do I get out of it?”, you might think – and we totally understand. Feel free to swipe on. However, this small gesture would help our work immensely. Like many cultural institutions and festivals we also face challenging times right now, and we hope for your support so we can keep exhibiting and promoting the art of photography in our region.
Every donation or ticket sold matter
Copenhagen Photo Festival is a small non-profit organisation which relies primarily on funding from private funds and the municipality of Copenhagen. So any contribution – via ticket sales or donations – makes the world to us and can help secure our work exhibiting exceptional photography as well as the organisation behind.
Any donation - even a small one – will help us keep up our work highlighting and exhibiting the best of international contemporary photography, promoting international and emerging photo artists and contributing to a strong photo scene in our region.
To support our work you can
- Buy an Early Bird Festival Ticket, DKK 100 (until 1 January)
- Support us and be a Patron of the Arts, DKK 200
- Make a donation, any amount
Read more about supporting Copenhagen Photo Festival
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
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
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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
Make Photography Wild Again!
Dansk tekst nedenfor
As a new initiative Copenhagen Photo Festival launches its Open Call 2023 under the overarching theme of ‘Rewilding’, which highlights sustainability and Copenhagen’s appointment as UNESCO’s World Capital of Archetecture in 2023. With the theme ‘Rewilding’ the festival encourages artists, talents and photographers to think ‘wildly’ and set photography free. The winners of the call wins a solo exhibition during next year’s festival in June.
An urban wilderness in the middle of Copenhagen may not be the most obvious exhibition venue, but the old Danish industrial giant B&W’s shipyard, which is placed on the island of Refshaleøen in the sweet spot between Copenhagen Contemporary, Michelin-Restaurant Alchemist and Reffen Street Food, has for several years been a green exhibition space and backdrop for Copenhagen Photo Festival.
The place is a historical piece of land in the midst of an industrial urban space which once laid ground to the building of ships. Since then rose hips, trees and wildflowers have taken over the former building site.
Sustainability and ‘Rewilding’
In 2023 the festival focuses on the topical concept ‘Rewilding’: “with our theme we address a current agenda and invite artists and photographers to expand the usual exhibition conventions – glas and frame on white walls – and explore new perspectives on urban spaces and sustainability. On ‘Beddingen’, as the former shipyard is known, we have an exceptional opportunity to lay out an urban landscape to this challenge – and to rewild photography,” says festival director Maja Dyrehauge Gregersen.
‘Rewilding’
The theme ‘rewilding’ is particularly relevant as Copenhagen will bring special attention to sustainability in 2023 as UNESCO’s World Capital of Architecture which will focus specifically on the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals. ‘Rewilding’ refers to a process where nature regulates itself without interference from humans and without serving human purposes
The term has in recent years been used to propose solutions to some of today’s climate and biodiversity crises. But the concept also shakes established power relations and challenges traditional understandings of the relationship between humans and nature. The festival encourages artists, talents and photographers to explore this field and to interpret the term in its broadest sense.
Calling established and aspiring artists from all over the world
We encourage all interested artists, photographers and talents to apply for CPF’s Open Call 2023. The winners will be chosen by the members of our programme committee: head of the DMJX, Søren Pagter; curator and head of communication at Martin Asbæk Gallery, Patricia Breinholm; photo editor at the newspaper Weekendavisen, Mie Brinkmann and festival director Maja Dyrehauge Gregersen.
Deadline is 1 November. Winners are announced on 1 March. The exhibitions will open during next year’s festival in June.
Find more information about the open call here
Start your submission for the open call here
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Gør fotografiet vildt igen!
Som noget nyt lancerer Copenhagen Photo Festival næste års open call under ét bærende tema, der binder an til bæredygtighed og Københavns udnævnelse som arkitekturhovedstad i 2023. Med temaet ‘Rewilding’ opfordrer festivalen til at tænke ‘vildt’ og sætte den fotografiske kunst fri i naturen. Vinderne får deres egen soloudstilling under festivalen i 2023
Det er måske de færreste, der tænker, at et urbant vildnis på Refshaleøen er et oplagt udstillingsrum, men B&Ws gamle bedding, der ligger i smørhullet mellem Copenhagen Contemporary, Restaurant Alchemist og Reffen Street Food, har i flere år lagt græs, buske og udstillingsrum til Copenhagen Photo Festival.
Stedet er et historisk stykke jord midt i Refshaleøens industrielle byrum, der engang blev brugt til at bygge B&W’s skibe på. Siden har det fået lov til at forvilde som en tidslomme blandt Refshaleøens rå arkitektur, hvor hybenroser og vilde blomster nu har overtaget den nedlagte bedding.
Bæredygtighed og ‘genforvildning’
I 2023 stiller festivalen skarpt på det højaktuelle begreb ‘rewilding’ – eller genforvildning med et fordansket ord:
“Med vores tema taler vi ind i en topaktuel agenda og inviterer kunstnere og fotografer til at udvide de gængse konventioner om glas, ramme og hvide vægge for at se nye perspektiver på byrum og bæredygtighed. På Beddingen har vi en enestående mulighed for at lægge landskab til den udfordring og gøre fotografiet vildt igen,” siger festivaldirektør Maja Dyrehauge Gregersen.
‘Rewilding’
Temaet ‘rewilding’ binder an til, at København i 2023 er verdens arkitekturhovedstad med særligt fokus på bæredygtighed og de 17 verdensmål. Det betegner en proces, hvor naturen får lov til at regulere sig selv uden indblanding fra mennesker og uden at tjene menneskelige formål.
Begrebet har vundet frem i de senere år som en løsningsmodel på nogle af tidens klima- og biodiversitetskriser. Samtidig ryster begrebet også ved etablerede magtstrukturer, der udfordrer en traditionel forståelse af forholdet mellem mennesket og naturen. Festivalen opfordrer ansøgere til at afsøge dette spændingsfelt – og til den videst mulige tolkning af begrebet.
Kalder alle etablerede og spirende kunstnere!
Alle interesserede kunstnere og fotografer opfordres til at søge. Vinderne udvælges af festivalens programudvalg, der består af lederen af DMJX’s fotolinje, Søren Pagter, kurator og kommunikationsansvarlig hos Martin Asbæk Gallery, Patricia Breinholm, Weekendavisens fotoredaktør, Mie Brinkmann og festivaldirektør, Maja Dyrehauge Gregersen.
Deadline er 1. november, og vinderne annonceres 1. marts. Udstillingerne åbner til næste års festival i juni.
Læs mere om vores open call 2023 her
Begynd din ansøgningsproces her
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!
Online screening: Granny’s Life
All summer you have the chance to visit the outdoor, large scale exhibition Granny by the Ukrainian artist Olena Morozova on the walls of our exhibition venue Frame on Refshaleøen. The touching exhibition was part of this year’s photo festival as a part of Odesa Photo Days. It explores the relationship between the artist and her grandmother, who was once an independent feminist, but was living with dementia in the last years of her life.
As a special summer treat we can now also show Olena Morozova’s film Granny here. The film was shown in our cinema during the festival. We urge you to see Morozova’s portrait of her granny and also to support her fundraiser to get the project published – we would love to see this project as a book!
You can pre-order the book or find more information on how to support here
Granny’s Life
“In the photos of the project Granny are my granny, me and my younger children Maria and Tymur. My granny had a very bright life, she was a really bright and interesting person with a great sense of humor. She was a doctor, a gynecologist. She started her practice in Siberia, but she dreamed of living in Kyiv and one day her dream came true.
She was also an examplary feminist. In the Soviet days this was quite strange. All her life she did everything herself. She raised her son (my dad) by herself, she earned money, saved people's lives, helped newborns to life, she got an apartment in Kyiv herself, bought a car for her son and she never got married, but she had many lovers.
I started researching the problem of dementia when my grandmother was diagnosed with it. We talked about her illness so that she does not lose touch with reality. I also involved my children in this process, which was very helpful.
The burden of dementia
According to the WHO, in 2017 there were more than 50 million people with dementia worldwide. 7.7 million new cases are reported yearly, each one becomes a significant burden on families and health systems. Dementia causes the brain to degenerate and it is characterized by a persistent decrease in cognitive activity with a loss of previously acquired knowledge and practical skills. From the very first manifestations to severe forms, patients require care and social support.
Glimpses of her complex and interesting character are like pearls that you acquire through the hard work of constant communication. These moments dear to our hearts, the chronicle of the struggle against "the darkness" and visions from a past life: military childhood, interesting youth, medical practice in the cruel inhuman conditions of the Russian hinterland, are the essence of the project, which has become more than a project for me.
At a certain moment, I felt the need to photograph her in those moments when she talks about her visions. I have traced a clear relationship between memories, strong impressions and fears from my grandmother's past and painful visions in the present.
There is no happy ending in this struggle, the illness always wins, and this dread is visible. When phantasmagorias merge with reality it's always scary, and the only thing that can help is the attention of relatives and closeness.
Fundraiser to publish Granny
I think that such an interesting person and interesting life story is worth publishing in an art book. I found a book designer and publisher in Kyiv called RedZet. We did a lot of work on it already and now we have started a fundraiser to publish 300 copies of the first edition of the book «Granny».” Photographer Olena Morozova
Refshalevej 173C, Refshaleøen
Tine Bek’s Playful Materiality
“My work is very organic. It almost flows. I hope my works give you a sensation of feeling like you are there. That you can almost touch the sculpture or smell the food.”
Inspired by Karen Blixen’s short story Karneval and the tactility and sensuality of materials like foam and butter, the art photographer Tine Bek both explores three dimensionality, plays with fine art distinctions of materiality as well as our notions of sensory experiences in her photography.
Tine Bek was one of this year’s five exceptional FUTURES Nordic Talents who exhibited at the festival center, where she also shared her thoughts about her practice and process.
Bek recently published the photo book “The Vulgarity of Being Three Dimensional” at Disko Bay publishers and from 24 June you can enjoy Bek’s playful works at the “Summer Crush” exhibition which opens at @ardenasbækgallery in central Copenhagen.
🎥 Sonia Tomegros Regalado /@noia_de_mon
Open Call for The Meitar Award
The Meitar Award for Excellence in Photography, a collaboration between PHOTO IS:RAEL and the Zvi and Ofra Meitar Family Fund, will be awarded for the seventh time this year to a photographer whose works demonstrate excellence in the field of photography. This year Copenhagen Photo Festival's director Maja Dyrehauge is part of the jury which also includes photographer Roger Ballen, Curator of C/O Berlin Foundation Kathrin Schönegg, curator at V&A Museum Lisa Springer and a host of notable professionals from the world of photography.
Grant and Exhibition
This year’s winner will receive a $14,000 grant for the publication of a solo exhibition at PHOTO IS:RAEL International Photography Festival. The winner will be announced in November 2022, and the exhibition will be shown in November 2023 at the 11th International Photography Festival.
During the course of that year, the winner will work on the exhibition together with PHOTO IS:RAEL’s Chief Curator. Of the works submitted, the panelists will select 20 finalists for a group exhibition at the International Photography Festival, which will take place in November 2022 in Tel Aviv.
Registration, submission and deadline
All submissions will be reviewed by a panel of leading international professionals who specialize in the field of photography, art and culture. The judges will be expected to select a series or body of work which represents a distinct and compelling personal voice.
Submission deadline: July 18, 2022
Submission fee: Early registration 42$ (until July 1st), Late registration 54$
Photographs must be submitted via the contest website
For questions and additional information please contact: info@photoisrael.org
Panel of Judges
Dafna Meitar Nechmad, Director General, The Zvi and Ofra Meitar Family Fund
Demet Yıldız Dinçer, Photography Department Manager, Istanbul Museum of Modern Art
Ed Kashi, Photojournalist/Filmmaker with VII Photo Agency
Judith Guetta, Artist, Director of the Azrieli Gallery and the Yossi Nachmias Photo Gallery, Chair Department of
Photographic Communication, Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem
Kathrin Schönegg, Curator of C/O Berlin Foundation
Lakin Ogunbanwo, Photographer
Lisa Springer, Curator of Touring Photography Exhibitions, V&A Museum, London
Ljudmila Stratimirović, Artistic Director and Founder of Kc Grad and Art Weekend Belgrade
Maja Dyrehauge Gregersen, Managing Director, Copenhagen Photo Festival
Rivka Saker, Chairman of Sotheby's Israel, Founder and board chair of ARTIS
Dr. Roger Ballen, Artist and Photographer
PHOTO IS:RAEL is a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering dialogue via research and the highlighting of artistic and social issues through the language of photography.