(Translated by Google) Copenhagen Photo Festival 2025
I have to say that I am quite surprised and disappointed by how unprofessional and profit-oriented this year's Copenhagen Photo Festival has become. I will definitely not be attending next year's festival if the same organizers are behind it. It is actually sad, because it could have been a super interesting experience if it had been handled by a much more professional team.
Below I have listed a number of points that describe my experience of this year's festival:
Their website was not only confusing and confusing, but also had a number of errors in the active links, which were either dead (404) or led to the wrong pages. In my eyes, this shows that the site has not been properly checked before it was published. Hopelessly unprofessional.
The prices were generally far too high in relation to the content. For example, you had to buy a day pass to get access to a book market, which otherwise only consisted of about 8-10 small tables with rather indifferent content. One stand had old catalogs, another old books, which in reality seemed more suitable for a flea market. Compared to the free access to Chart's book market, where a multitude of publishers presented their books, this seemed almost like an embarrassing insult to us paying guests.
VIP events, for which you couldn't buy tickets, were arranged for a small, selected VIP group - why even present them in the program? It seemed in every respect exclusionary to all other art photography enthusiasts and practitioners.
When I had a question about one of the listed events on the website, I called the phone number provided. A voice simply said "Maja?" - nothing else. And the person in question never followed up on the call. A rather unprofessional approach.
Several of the “free” events listed on the website were exhibitions that were already open before the festival started – for example at Den Sorte Diamant. It therefore seemed more like “artificial filler” to expand an otherwise rather thin program.
I also met several people who had bought both a day pass and a ticket to Martin Parr on the opening day, without realizing that the ticket to the Parr lecture automatically gave access to the exhibition on the opening day – so buying a day pass was unnecessary. The information was relatively cryptically written in italics, at the very bottom of the event page for the Parr lecture. Profit optimization? It could smell like it.
The festival is called “Copenhagen Photo Festival”, but it extended over a much larger geographical area – including Malmö and Jutland. Why call it “Copenhagen”? Again an attempt to artificially boost an otherwise thin festival program?
The exhibitions at the Royal Danish Theatre were unstructured and the location was far too dark. Pictures were hung along stairs and in dark hallways, many without captions - except for Parr's (clearly prioritized) main exhibition. Instead, there was a printed list of captions - without pictures and without numbering - which made it unclear which texts belonged to which pictures. Useless and poorly arranged.
The fact that a day pass solution had been chosen rather than an actual festival pass, as in the past, clearly shows that this year there was much more focus on profit than on a good user experience.
I also met several "volunteers" who worked hard for free - which makes me wonder who actually benefits from the excessively high prices for this year's festival. And if this festival receives any kind of public support, then my point about the "various "VIP events" (CPH+) is also a strange and not very inclusive approach.
If I could give them "0 stars" I would because it has been a directly negative experience for me. An overly expensive, bad and messy experience.
(Original)
Copenhagen Photo Festival 2025
Jeg må sige, at jeg er temmelig forbavset og skuffet over, hvor uprofessionelt og profit-orienteret dette års Copenhagen Photo Festival har udviklet sig til at være. Jeg kommer bestemt ikke til at deltage i næste års festival, hvis det er de samme arrangører, der står bag. Det er egentligt sørgeligt, for det kunne have været en super interessant oplevelse, hvis det var blevet håndteret af et langt mere professionelt team.
Herunder har jeg listet en række punkter, der beskriver min oplevelse af dette års festival:
Deres website var ikke blot uoverskueligt og forvirrende, men havde også en række fejl i de aktive links, som enten var døde (404) eller førte til forkerte sider. Det vidner i mine øjne om, at sitet ikke er blevet ordentligt tjekket igennem, inden det blev publiceret. Håbløst uprofessionelt.
Priserne var generelt alt for høje i forhold til indholdet. Man skulle for eksempel købe et dagskort for at få adgang til et bogmarked, som i øvrigt kun bestod af cirka 8-10 små borde med temmelig ligegyldigt indhold. Én stand havde gamle kataloger, en anden gamle bøger, som i virkeligheden virkede mere egnede til et loppemarked. Sammenlignet med den gratis adgang til Charts bogmarked, hvor et væld af forlag fremviste deres bøger, fremstod dette nærmest som en pinlig fornærmelse mod os betalende gæster.
VIP-events, som man ikke kunne købe billetter til, var arrangeret for en lille, udvalgt VIP-gruppe – hvorfor overhovedet præsentere dem i programmet? Det virkede i alle henseender ekskluderende over for alle andre kunstfotografisk interessede og praktiserende.
Da jeg havde et spørgsmål til et af de listede events på websitet, ringede jeg til det oplyste telefonnummer. En stemme sagde blot “Maja?” – intet andet. Og vedkommende fulgte aldrig op på opkaldet. En temmelig uprofessionel tilgang.
Flere af de “gratis” events, der var listet på websitet, var udstillinger, som allerede var åbne før festivalen startede – f.eks. på Den Sorte Diamant. Det virkede derfor mest af alt som “kunstigt fyld” for at udvide et ellers ret tyndt program.
Jeg mødte desuden flere personer, der havde købt både dagskort og billet til Martin Parr på åbningsdagen, uden at opdage, at billetten til Parr-foredraget automatisk gav adgang til udstillingen på åbningsdagen – køb af dagskort var altså unødvendigt. Oplysningen stod relativt kryptisk i med kursiv, sælernederst på eventsiden for Parr-foredraget. Profitoptimering? Det kunne lugte af det.
Festivalen hedder “Copenhagen Photo Festival”, men strakte sig over et langt større geografisk område – herunder Malmö og Jylland. Hvorfor så kalde det “Copenhagen”? Igen et forsøg på kunstigt at booste et ellers udtyndet festivalprogram?
Udstillingerne på Det Kongelige Teater var ustrukturerede og lokationen alt for mørk. Billeder var ophængt langs trapper og i mørke gang, mange uden billedtekster - på nær ved Parr’s (klart prioriterede) hovedudstilling. I stedet lå der en printet liste med billedtekster – uden billeder og uden nummerering – hvilket gjorde det uklart, hvilke tekster der hørte til hvilke billeder. Useriøst og dårligt arrangeret.
At man havde valgt en dagskortløsning frem for et egentlig festivalpass, som tidligere, vidner tydeligt om, at der i år var langt mere fokus på profit end på en god brugeroplevelse.
Jeg mødte desuden flere “frivillige”, der knoklede gratis – hvilket får mig til at undre mig over, hvem der egentlig får glæde af de alt for høje priser til dette års festival. Og hvis denne festival modtager nogen form for offentlig støtte, så er mit punkt omkring "de forskellige "VIP events" (CPH+) også en underlig og ikke særlig inkluderende tilgang.
Kunne jeg give dem "0 stjerner" ville jeg gøre det for det har været en direkte negativ oplevelse for mig. En alt for dyr, dårlig og rodet oplevelse.