What I Did on My Summer Vacation… I arrived in Copenhagen at 3am and crossed the Øresund Bridge from Denmark to Landskrona, Sweden. It was a beautiful full moon over the Øresund strait that connects the Baltic Sea to the Atlantic Ocean – a great way to launch the beginning of the FotoFestival.
Opening night began inside Landskrona’s medieval castle, with champagne and dinner for the new artistic director’s, internationally renowned curator and author Christian Caujolle and photographer and gallery owner, Jenny Nordquist, along with festival organizers, sponsors, exhibiting photographers and portfolio reviewers. The castle, built in 1549-1559, is surrounded by two moats. The fortifications and moats system is known to be one of Europe’s largest and best preserved. Visitors to the Festival picnicked on the grounds to live music.
What followed were ten days of exhibitions, photobooks, seminars, portfolio reviews, artist talks and more. Renowned artists were exhibited alongside emerging names and work was on display inside and outdoors. Photographers such as Duane Michals, Nan Goldin, Lars Tunbjörk and Tacita Dean have exhibited at previous festivals. One of the many cool items for this Festival, was a beautifully designed mobile app. It was so well organized, you knew who was giving a talk, an artist walk-through, a book award, a music program at any given time. They take photography seriously.
I asked my fellow Landskrona Portfolio Reviewer’s for their thoughts about the Festival. Holly Roussell, an independent curator and Prix Elysée Coordinator for the Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland, wrote, “A tremendous strength of the Landskrona FotoFestival for me is its human scale. The festival is located in a small coastal town an hour from Copenhagen and 25 minutes from Malmö with ambition to become the center for photography for Sweden and in Scandinavia—and it seems they are well on their way! The intimate nature of the location and the events organized by the festival team make it easy to have meaningful conversations with visiting artists, publishers, collectors and curators who happen to also find themselves together in this small town on the Swedish coast for a few charming days.“
Roussell continued, “In addition to this inspiring atmosphere, the 2016 team assured a solid program of exhibitions, conferences and artist talks from Swedish and International artists and curators. Some personal highlights from the programme : “AgNo3: Histories of Science and Photography in Sweden” at the Landskrona Museum: an expertly researched and curated exhibition of primarily achival scientific photography that raises interesting questions about the contemporary regard on photographs originating in historical and non-artistic contexts. As well as Elina Brotherus and Smith in the Landskrona Kunsthalle and Amalie Smith’s video work “Eyes Touching, Fingers Seeing” projected in the Landskrona Citadel, that reflects on touchscreen technologies and the digital space.”
Alison Nordström, Artistic Director, Fotofestiwal in Łódź first texted “Janne’s “AgNO3 Histories of Science and Photography in Sweden” is the best exhibition I’ve seen in a long time!” She added about the Festival, “I think it has all the ingredients for a successful annual event: strong and visionary leadership, great people, an intense and varied program, thoughtful and surprising exhibitions and a charming (and visually rich) setting in a perfectly-sized town that is easy to get to. The 20+ kinds of smoked salmon and excellent beer are a bonus.”
Elizabeth Avedon
2016 Landskrona FotoFestival
August 19 – 28, 2016
Landskrona, Danemark
http://www.landskronafoto.org/
