This May, the international photographic elite and photo enthusiasts alike will turn their gaze and their cameras on Copenhagen, as the Copenhagen Photo Festival for the first time fills the streets and galleries of the city. The Festival endeavours to highlight Denmark’s position in the world of photography with an ambitious and international programme, guaranteeing to display the many facets of photography. The main exhibition Day & Night will give everybody moving about in the Copenhagen city space something to stop and think about - 24 hours - day and night. Day & Night – all over town curated by Charlotte Sprogøe and Jesper Elg When the Copenhagen Photo Festival hits Copenhagen this May it is with the wish and ambition to show Copenhageners and the rest of the world what a crucial position photography occupies in our everyday lives and in the overall media picture - as well as some of the talented photographers to be found both in Denmark and internationally. The Festival offers the opportunity to become aware of the photographic expression as we meet it in all kinds of everyday space - public and private - and with its array of art, fashion and documentary photography it presents a unique opportunity to zoom in closely on the state of photography in 2010. The Copenhagen Photo Festival will thus become a platform on which to explore photography through, among others, newly produced works, theoretical debate and practical activities. The Festival includes most of Copenhagen with more than 10 exhibitions at venues such as Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, V1 Gallery, Galerie Mikael Andersen, Peter Lav Gallery and Martin Asbæk Gallery where guests can experience the pick of Danish and international photographic art with for instance Eve Sussman (UK), Peter Fuch (DK) and Sabine Dehnel (DE). Major Danish cultural institutions such as the National Museum of Photography, Fotografisk Center and Cinemateket also participate with exhibitions, each staging photography in various ways. In addition to this insight into current contemporary photography there is the opportunity to visit Kødbyen (the Meatpacking District of Copenhagen), where an impressive selection of photographers within a number of genres can be found, including fashion and press photos. The main exhibition Day & Night focusses on the visual attack, which surrounds us 24/7. By taking over the advertisement display pillars, the billboards and the big screens constantly bombarding us with visual input and instead replacing it with offbeat and artistic content, Day & Night wants us to stop and reflect on the messages we are being exposed to in public space. Whereas Day takes place in broad daylight among passers-by, shoppers and traffic at central locations in Copenhagen such as Rådhuspladsen (the Town Hall Square), Kongens Nytorv and Nørreport, the Night part does not begin until dusk. Then it will appear as projections on shop windows, the facades of houses and screens in downtown Copenhagen. The exhibitions represent two different sides of the everyday experience: one that relates to the daytime, and one that relates to the nighttime, the land of shadows and the hidden. Common to the works selected is that they represent reality in a slightly distorted and twisted mode of expression: the worlds we are invited into are not what they appear to be at first glance - in fact they require more of the viewer than a quick glance to fully unfold what they are about. Artists included in the main exhibition Day & Night: Tim Davis (b. 1969 in Malawi), Peter Funch (b.1974 in Denmark), Anne Hardy (b. 1970 in England), Todd Hido (b. 1968 in USA), Jacob Holdt (b. 1947 in Denmark), Nicolai Howalt (b. 1970 in Copenhagen, Denmark), Mark Hunter (b. 1986 in USA), Hanna Liden (b. 1976 in Sweden), Laurel Nakadate (b. 1975 in Texas, USA), Jason Nocito (b. 1974 in USA), Dash Snow (b. 1981 d. 2009 in USA), Peter Sutherlands (b. 1976 in USA). Klaus Thymann (b. 1974 in Denmark), Shizuka Yokomizo (b. 1966 in Japan). Kohei Yoshiyuki (b. 1946 in Japan). Day has been curated by Charlotte Sprogøe who is also the managing director of the Copenhagen Photo Festival; and Night has been curated by Jesper Elg from V1 Gallery. The participating artists are mainly from the US, Japan, Denmark and the UK (please refer to the complete list of artists below). Most of the artists of Day & Night will participate in a conference on contemporary photography at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts on May 14. In addition to this seminar, various workshops, talks, openings and other seminars will take place during the Festival. About the Copenhagen Photo Festival The Festival is a non-profit organisation, supported among others by the Danish Arts Council and the City of Copenhagen. Its founding directors are Rasmus Ranum and Julie Klitbo, the owners of the photo agencies Sumo og BLINK which work with Danish photographers in Denmark and abroad. Managing director of the festival is curator and art historian Charlotte Sprogøe. The Festival takes place in Copenhagen from May 12 to 20 2010.