18 June 2020

After the cancellation of this year’s festival due to COVID-19, the audience was able to experience photography digitally through the online campaign #cpfcelebratingphotography. And as the city of Copenhagen started to re-open, June 18th became CPF Celebrating Photography Day, an all-day event that celebrated and shared photography outdoors, with interventions in and around Copenhagen – available all summer.

For these actions and happenings, we teamed up with like-minded partners and supporters, including the team at Donkey Republic bike rentals and Denmark’s largest balcony and elevator company, Altan.dk, as well as Café Altanen, Café Dyrehaven, La Banchina and Reffen – Copenhagen Street Food. Each of these partners contributed to the daily programme, which started off with the launch of the group exhibition Reconstruction of Identities at Vesterbro, where selected works from the project were installed on containers in the area, which the audience was encouraged to explore. Photographers, involved in this project, were presented on the night, where they each presented their works and their experiences with the project’s masterclasses and residencies.

The programme continued at Refshaleoen, where the large scale audio-visual outdoor installation FRAMES ON FRAME was presented. The installed works were all by artists and photographers, who had been chosen for the solo exhibitions during the festival, but whose engagement had instead been digital – through video and audio bits. In the nearby cultural hub Werkstatt, the presented works were available as limited edition prints at a pop-up print on demand sale in collaboration with Atla. The buzzing print sale marked the end of the day and was accompanied by an open bar and the best vibes from the DJ in Werkstatt on Reffen.

7- 17 June 2018

In 2018 it was yet again the closed substation, Understation, and the surrounding wilderness, that provided the framework for the centre of the festival. Photo City consisted in 2018 of 11 international exhibitions, including indoor and outdoor film screenings as well as a hidden exhibition space made of containers.

This year’s festival also presented exhibitions all over Copenhagen and in Scania, and the workshops and events during the festival allowed visitors to work with and immerse themselves in photography. An international seminar focused on portraying everyday life in conflict areas, and Photo City visitors had the opportunity to experience the festival’s exhibitions through taste.
In 2018 the festival beat its record with no less than 449 applications from all over the world at our open call to The Censored Exhibition.

See the the full programme.

1- 11 June 2017

In 2017 the new Photo City was established in Østerbro where 11 international exhibitions were located in the area around Gasværksgrunden:

The abandoned transformer station was transformed into a hall with exhibitions, Østre Gasværk Theater screened movies and photo shows. Gasværksgrunden got its own exhibition park with photography works in the wilderness and a new mobile exhibition hall made out of containers exhibited works.

In 2017 CPF provided the setting for more than 100 different activities. There were workshops for every age groups which offered learning and creative development along with international conferences which focused on the importance of photography. In addition, the festival crowd had the possibility to experience Copenhagen’s hidden treasures through the ‘’Urban Photo Tour’’ around in the city.
2017 was also the year where the festival got a record number of international applications to Photo City. New initiatives were added such as portfolio reviews, film screenings, photobook days and walkings with sound stories.

See the the full programme.

2- 12 June 2016

2016 was a landmark year for the Copenhagen Photo Festival with new management, program committee and a new program strategy. Photo City moved out of Carlsberg City and became a photo route from Bremerholm transformer station in the city to KW3 and Museumsbygningen in Østerbro. ‘Picture The Music’ culminated with the coffee table book releases of the best music photography from three years of travelling exhibitions. For the first time in the history of the festival, an auction of selected photos from ‘Picture the Music’ and the Juried Exhibition were held in collaboration with Brun Rasmussen Auctioneers. We held an international seminar in collaboration with the National Museum of Photography, and we launched the app Look & Listen, offering the audience a whole new way to experience the classic exhibition format. Finally, there were all the exhibits that CPF’s collaborators presented.

See the programme and catalogue.

4- 14 June 2015

5- 15 June 2014

6- 16 June 2013

7- 17 June 2012

Nordic contemporary photography along with press photography were two important themes in 2012. At the two-day seminar NORDIC NU, organised by Filter (DK), Objektiv (NO) and Raw (FI), photographers, critics and researchers discussed Nordic photography. The Commission for Press Photography celebrated its 100th anniversary with an exhibition at Nytorv, and at Photo City created a large exhibit with the photographers from Politiken along with smaller exhibitions collaborating with Henrik Saxgren, Martin Lehmann and Niels Hougaard. The young photojournalists behind Personal Project decorated The City Fence at the Kings Square. The public space in Copenhagen was taken over by the City space Art Project where art photos where shown in 130 poster stands. Finally there was all the exhibits that CPF’s collaborators presented.

• See the programme and catalogue

9- 19 June 2011

Photo City moved to Carlsberg City and presented a multitude of small solo exhibitions. The most significant exhibition in townscape was ‘2200 Everyday Rituals about life’ in the neighborhood Nørrebro. The citizens own images of everyday life were exhibited in all the shop windows along Nørrebrogade as a counterweight to the negative news stories about the area. The jury consisted of gallery owner Martin Asbæk and the experienced photographers Joachim Ladefoged and Jacob Holdt. The TV channel DR subsequently took the concept further with the broadcasting of ‘Danes Everyday Rituals’.  At the other end of the spectrum, CPF held a symposium on staged photography in cooperation with the National Gallery of Denmark (SMK). In 2011, CPF also initiated a cooperation with the Metro Company and had exhibitions in all the city metros. Finally, there was all the exhibits that CPF’s collaborators presented.

• See the programme and catalogue

12- 20 May 2010

The first year of the festival was used to build foundations and explore ideas. Emphasis was placed on having a main exhibition: Day & Night, which consisted of a series of 16 prominent Danish and international photographers, including Nicolai Howalt, Todd Hido, Dash Snow, Peter Sutherland, who depicted the diurnal two modus vivendi. The exhibition took over Copenhagen’s most visited places in the form of billboards, banners and projections on gables, walls and big screens during the evening. The exhibition was followed by a photo competition launched by CPF, Canon and The Museum of Copenhagen with the aim to involve the audience and spread awareness of photography. The winning pictures were exhibited at the WALL, this started our goal to get everyday citizens involved in photography. Symposiums were offered at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and at gallery exhibition openings with a record high number of visitors . Photo City was located in the Meatpacking District and was a broad-spectrum presentation of both fashion photography, art photography and photojournalism. Finally, there was all the exhibits that CPF’s collaborators presented.

• See the programme and catalogue