30th Anniversary: A Centre for Photography

Exhibitors: Krass Clement (DK), Angelica Elliott (SE), Marianne Engberg (DK), Jakob Hunosøe (DK), Sophia Kalkau (DK), Noah Umur Kanber (DK), Rosaline Ben-Baruch Lange (DK), Finn Larsen (DK), Jenny Lindhe (SE), Jukke Rosing (GL), Emma Sarpaniemi (FI), Lars Tunbjörk (SE).

It is with great pleasure that Fotografisk Center in 2026 opens its 30thanniversary exhibition 30th Anniversary: A Centre for Photography with works by 12 Danish and Nordic artists. The exhibition is on view from 28 August – 8 November 2026.

The opening takes place Thursday 27 August from 4-7pm with free entrance for everyone and free bobbles for the first 100 guests. Several of the participating artists will be present.

Opening programme:

• 4pm: Doors open with free bobbles for the first 100 guests
• 4.30pm: Director at Fotografisk Center Signe Kahr Sørensen gives the welcome speech and PhD student Oscar Vindel Schönström introduces the exhibtion
• 4.45pm: Maria Frej (SF), member of the Culture, Leisure, and Citizen Services Committee in the City of Copenhagen, gives the opening speech of the exhibition
• 7pm: Thank you for tonight

About the exhibition
The participating artists in the exhibition are: Krass Clement (DK), Angelica Elliott (SE), Marianne Engberg (DK), Jakob Hunosøe (DK), Sophia Kalkau (DK), Noah Umur Kanber (DK), Rosaline Ben-Baruch Lange (DK), Finn Larsen (DK), Jenny Lindhe (SE), Jukke Rosing (GL), Emma Sarpaniemi (FI) and Lars Tunbjörk (SE).

Photography is a medium capable of spanning a wide range of genres and contexts. The anniversary exhibition reflects this by drawing connections between different periods, forms of photography, works, artists and photographers. It embraces the diversity and extraordinary breadth of the photographic medium while demonstrating how Fotografisk Center has, throughout its history, served as a centre for photography, exhibiting the work of a great variety of artists and photographers.

In 1996 Fotografisk Center was established as an association by the City of Copenhagen and Copenhagen ’96, European Capital of Culture, with the aim of promoting art photography in Denmark. Today, 30 years later, it is one of the few remaining institutions in Denmark dedicated especially to exhibiting, communicating and raising awareness of contemporary photography.

The exhibition unfolds through three themes, each based on a distinctive aspect of the photographic medium: Aesthetic Camera Works, Performative Representations and Stories from Everyday Life. It also presents a selection of material from Fotografisk Center’s archive, offering insight into the institution’s history over the past three decades.

The exhibition also draws on Fotografisk Center’s current research project, Documentary Art Photography (supported by the New Carlsberg Foundation, 2023–26), undertaken in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen. As part of the project, PhD fellow Oscar Vindel Schönström takes a historical approach to the development of institutions exhibiting photography in Denmark and Sweden since the 1980s, including Fotografisk Center. The exhibition has been curated in close collaboration with Schönström.

Thank you to funds and partners
Fotografisk Center would like to express its sincere gratitude to the following foundations for their financial support of the exhibition and its accompanying anniversary publication: the Danish Arts Foundation, Augustinus Fonden, the New Carlsberg Foundation, Beckett-Fonden, Knud Højgaards Fond, Politiken-Fonden, Grosserer L. F. Foghts Fond and Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond. Special thanks are also due to the New Carlsberg Foundation for supporting the research project from 2023 to 2026, paving the way for new knowledge and perspectives on photography and its development.

Special thanks are also due to DGI Byen for twelve years of successful partnership in Copenhagen’s Meatpacking District in Vesterbro, and to the City of Copenhagen for taking the initiative to establish a centre for photography in 1996 and for supporting the operation of Fotografisk Center throughout the past thirty years.

Event programme and exhibition catalogue
In connection with the exhibition, a richly illustrated catalogue (240 pages) will be published, designed by the award-winning graphic designers Spine Studio. The catalogue unfolds the anniversary exhibition and the history of Fotografisk Center through various texts and a wide range of photographs. On the opening day, it will be possible to purchase the catalogue at a special price of DKK 125 (normal price DKK 175).

During the exhibition several events will be held. All events are in Danish and is free after paid entrance to the exhibition:

• Sunday 6 September 2-3pm: Public guided tour in the exhibtion
• Thursday 8 October 5-6pm: Lecture by PhD student Oscar Vindel Schönström about the anniversary exhibition and his research project Documentary Art Photography 
• Friday 9 October 6-11pm: The Culture Night in Fotografisk Center
• Thursday 22 October 5-6.30pm: Talk about the past, present and the future of photography with visual artist Jakob Hunosøe, photographer Emil Ryge, art historian and former director at Museet for Fotokunst and former manager of Det Nationale Fotomuseum Ingrid Fischer Jonge and PhD student Oscar Vindel Schönström. The talk is moderated by professor in photography studies at the University of Copenhagen Mette Sandbye
• Sunday 8 November 2-3pm: Public guided tour in the exhibtion

Teaching material
On occasion of the exhibition teaching material will be produced. The material can be downloaded for free from 28 August 2026  here: www.fotografiskcenter.dk/undervisningsmateriale All primary schools and high schools in the Municipality of Copenhagen have free access to Fotografisk Center.

Image credit: Marianne Engberg, PL1222 Mc Graw Hill Building, 1989, the work is photographed in 2024 by photographer Jesper Westley