PRESSEMEDDELELSE
Copenhagen Photo Festival will make the city buzz with world-class star photographers and unrivalled audience events
With its most comprehensive event programme ever, the focus of this year’s Copenhagen Photo Festival is to encourage community and the physical experience of photography. From 11 to 21 June, visitors can enjoy talks with Danish film director Christina Rosendahl and the musician Luna Ersahin, develop their own visual language in masterclasses with star photographers such as Roger Ballen and Carolyn Drake, and take part in countless social events and gallery crawls, all aimed at enhancing the experience of photography in good company – at this year’s 30+ exhibition venues.
In keeping with this year’s theme, Scenarios, the festival is inviting visitors to explore new possibilities and realities through photography. In the festival centre at the Royal Theatre and in galleries and museums in the different neighbourhoods of the city – not to mention jaunts to Malmö, Humlebæk, Elsinore and Lyngby – this year’s programme features some major exhibition experiences, including work by Roger Ballen, Carolyn Drake, Helge Skodvin (the Royal Theatre), Søren Solkær (Øksnehallen, Kvægtorvet), Cyprien Gaillard (Simian), Katharina Sieverding (Gammel Strand), Sophie Calle (Louisiana), Christina Capetillo (Fotografisk Center) and many, many others.
This year’s festival represents a unique opportunity for visitors to experience photography in new ways and in the company of other people.
The festival kicks off on 11 June with a Grand Opening at the Royal Theatre.
“We live in an age, in which images have become our main language. We are constantly scrolling, swiping and sharing visual content. And our understanding of the world is hugely shaped by images. On social media and in the news. Naturally, this year’s festival looks at that phenomenon. What we wanted was to enhance the experiences that connect us and to create a sense of community around photography. We look forward to learning more about the strengths and pitfalls of imagery together with visitors to the festival and this year’s exhibitors, and to challenging ourselves and each other through this year’s impressive audience programme,” says Maja Dyrehauge Gregersen, the festival director.
“Photography is an immensely powerful medium which, through our phones and television, has become radically democratised. However, the collective spaces where we pause and reflect on the medium are rather limited. That is why it is crucial for Copenhagen, as both a capital city and a cultural hub, to host events such as Copenhagen Photo Festival, which not only shine a spotlight on the medium itself, but also bring it into the city and into a variety of contexts. I hope this will influence the way we all engage with the medium, the city, and our wider surroundings,” says the City of Copenhagen’s Mayor of Culture and Leisure, Christopher Røhl (RV).
Below is a rundown of this year’s programme.
Photos: © Jytte Rex | @ Søren Solkær
Naked men, Swedish torpedoes, family secrets and women’s lives
On the opening night, 11 June, visitors are invited to an opening speech featuring this year’s headliner, the award-winning artist and Magnum photographer Carolyn Drake. She explores and challenges the way in which we view each other: in photos of naked men in her series Men Untitled; and in the staging of herself as the ideal woman in Glorify Yourself.
Nor should you miss out on the festival’s ‘FREMKALDT’ talks, in which Christina Rosendahl and Liv Helm will discuss dealing with taboos, trauma and family secrets. Jytte Rex and Luna Ersahin will talk about women’s lives and what it means to depart from society’s expectations across generations. Mads Nissen and Morten Pape will talk about conveying stories from the ghettos and gangster environments they have both intensively dealt with in their photography and writing.
www.copenhagenphotofestival.com/samtaler-talks
Masterclasses og portfolio feedback from respected figures from Denmark and abroad
This year you can take part in workshops led by the festival’s headliners and get feedback on your photography from experts from the Danish and Nordic photography scene. On 12 and 13 June, in nine different masterclasses, the festival’s headliners will provide exclusive insights into processes and practices. On 11 June, there is a unique opportunity to receive professional feedback on your photography from curators, gallerists, artists and photojournalists from the Danish world of art and photography.
www.copenhagenphotofestival.com/portfolio-reviews
www.copenhagenphotofestival.com/masterclasses
World-class photography at the Royal Danish Theatre
For the second year in a row, the historic Balcony Foyer of the Royal Danish Theatre will form the setting for the festival’s main exhibitions, featuring international photography and camera-based art in a league of their own. This year’s headliner, the artist and Magnum photographer Carolyn Drake has been given an entire floor for her comprehensive exhibition Turning the Gaze. This year’s four solo artists – Roger Ballen, Maja Daniels, Rhiannon Adam and Helge Skodvin – are presenting projects never seen before in Denmark, all tackling important current topics: for example, the most profound and secret imaginings of the psyche, witch hunts from the past, all-consuming trips to the moon and the biodiversity crisis. Audiences can also see a digital screening of this year’s CPF Selectees and the audience exhibition Imagine…?www.copenhagenphotofestival.com/featured-artists
Photos: © Carolyn Drake | @ Roger Ballen
New Nordic voices occupy Refshaleøen
On Refshaleøen, close to Copehagen Contemporary and the popular Reffen Streetfood, the spotlight is on young talent, experimental art and interdisciplinary exchange. Each year, the festival selects a number of young artists, each of whom in their own way reflect the direction in which photography is going:
Futures Nordic Talents 2026. This year’s selected talents – Liv Latricia Habel (DK), Mari Mäntynen (FI), Loulou Buxbom (DK), María Kristín Antonsdóttir (ISL) – explore and reflect on origin and identity in works that are both thought-provoking and humorous.
The programme VÆKST Creatives challenges and engages with the framework of photography. This year audiences can enjoy performance, dance, workshops and audiowalks with the six selected VÆKST Creatives: Alice Presence, Asta Oskarsdottír, Joachim Fleinert, Photofuss & Young Visual Art, Fredrik Fabó and Thomas Seest & Tora Balslev.
Meanwhile, the three Nordic photography schools – DMJX, Oslo Fotokunstskole and Fatamorgana – are presenting exhibitions featuring students’ work in the FRAME building and the exhibition park at Beddingen.
Admission is free to the entire VÆKST area.
Photos: @ Joachim Fleinert – VÆKST Creatives 2026 / © Mari Mäntynen FUTURES Nordic Talents 2026
Explore more than 30 galleries and exhibition venues
In addition to the festival area at the Royal Theatre and VÆKST on Refshaleøen, this year’s festival programme includes more than 30 galleries and exhibition venues in Copenhagen and Malmö – from Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, the Royal Danish Library and Malmö Konsthall to Det Grønlandske Hus, Fotografisk Center, Davis Gallery, Gammel Strand, the Museum of Copenhagen, to name but a few.
See the complete list of galleries and exhibition venues at the bottom of the press release and here: https://copenhagenphotofestival.com/cpf-x-venues-2026/
Attend creative workshops and exhibition openings and join Gallery Crawls
The festival features a myriad of experiences and exhibition openings where the audience can meet artists, industry professionals and new voices. They can also get involved and learn about photography in a number of creative workshops covering analog photography, collages or polaroid transfer processes. Or join this year’s Gallery Crawls and visit not only the neighbourhoods of Copenhagen, but also Moderna Museet Malmö, Galleri Format and Malmö Konsthall in Malmö. This year there are both walking and cycling tours.
www.copenhagenphotofestival.com/workshops
Mads Nissen, Luna Ersahin og Morten Pape are part of the talk programme. @ Mishael Fabohunda | © Mads Nissen | @ Morten Pape
All partner venues this year:
AFTRYK · BANJA RATHNOV KUNSTHANDEL & GALLERI · BASEMENT · CHRISTIANSHAVNS BEBOERHUS · DARK GALLERY · DAVIS GALLERY · DET GRØNLANDSKE HUS · DET KONGELIGE BIBLIOTEK · EX NIHILO · FOTOGRAFISK CENTER · GALLERI FORMAT · GALLERI KREBSEN · GAMMEL STRAND · KBH FILM&FOTOSKOLE · KVÆGTORVET (ØKSNEHALLEN) · KØBENHAVNS MUSEUM · LOKALE KIOSK · LOUISIANA MUSEUM OF MODERN ART· M/S MUSEET FOR SØFART · MALMÖ KONSTHALL · MAXUS101 · MODERNA MUSEET MALMÖ · NIELS BOHR INSTITUTET · NORDATLANTENS BRYGGE · ODP3 | OVENPÅ · PROSPEKT · SIMIAN · SOPHIENHOLM · STRANDGADE 6 · WONDERLAND ART SPACE · VERA SKOLE FOR KUNST & DESIGN·
Get discount at Donkey Republic and Kamerahuset
A festival ticket not only includes admission to the exhibitions at the Royal Danish Theatre, but also gives you 20% discount when you rent a bike from Donkey Republic. If you book a ticket for a masterclass, you also get benefits at Kamerahuset, Denmark’s leading camera-equipment retailer.
Partnerships across art and culture
This year’s festival would not have been possible without the support of a huge range of partners and cultural actors from Denmark and abroad. They include: the City of Copenhagen, the Obel Family Foundation, Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond Augustinus Fonden, Futures, Creative Europe Programme of the European Union and Knud Højgaards Fond.
About Copenhagen Photo Festival
Copenhagen Photo Festival takes place in Copenhagen from 11-21 June 2026.
Under the theme Scenarios, Copenhagen Photo Festival explores our ability to create worlds and new realities through images and storytelling, and how our imagination and empathy are challenged in an image-driven age where fiction and fact intertwine more than ever before – and where dystopia and utopia often go hand in hand.
Tickets for the festival and individual events can be purchased via the website.
More information and full programme: www.copenhagenphotofestival.com
Contact information
Press contact
Christina Holm Hansen
christina@gatheragency.dk
+45 2932 9867
Head of Communication
Christine Almlund
christine@copenhagenphotofestival.com