Landskrona Foto Festival reclaims the city from 08 September
“Our ambition is that Landskrona becomes the capital of photography in Scandinavia,” says photographer and festival curator Jenny Nordquist. “We want photography to manifest itself in public spaces, from shop windows to parks and old buildings, and become a perceptible part of experiencing the city. This is both an open invite for the visitor to discover the city and a practical consideration about what public spaces – so often privatised by advertising or market economics – can and must be.”
The fifth edition of the Lanskrona Foto Festival opens from 08-17 September, co-curated by Nordquist and the legendary VU’ founder Christian Caujolle. The pair have deliberately avoided using an over-arching theme, allowing them to assemble an eclectic mix of photographers and projects including Caleb Charland, Olivier Culmann and Carlos Ayesta & Guillaume Bression. The curators aim to exhibit established photographers who haven’t previously shown in Sweden, and young, emerging Scandinavian photographers.
Landskrona is a coastal city close to Malmö and Copenhagen, which is home to the Landskrona Foto museum, and Nordquist says that, though small, it offers many interesting venues. The Exercishallen venue – a former military gym – will be given over to two exhibitions, for example, one showing off the best contemporary photobooks and the other the work commissioned by Benetton’s cultural offshoot, Fabrica. Other venues include the city hall, a Medieval castle and a church, while some exhibitions will take place outdoors and the Open Call show will take place in shop windows across the city centre.
“The festival is the main cultural event of the year and the whole city gets involved,” says Nordquist. “During the festival, and also in the summer running up to the festival, photography takes over the city. You can walk between all the exhibitions in 10 minutes, and will easily meet and network with other professionals.” www.landskronafoto.org/en/fotofestival-2017/
Diane Smyth is the editor of BJP, returning for a second stint on staff in 2023 - after 15 years on the team until 2019. As a freelancer, she has written for The Guardian, FT Weekend Magazine, Creative Review, Aperture, FOAM, Aesthetica and Apollo. She has also curated exhibitions for institutions such as The Photographers Gallery and Lianzhou Foto Festival. You can follow her on instagram @dismy