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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.

Beet Field Battery © Caleb Charland, on show at the Citadellet
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/
Making of ‘9/11’ (by John Del Giorno, 2001). From the series Icons, 2013 © Cortis & Sonderegger, on show in the Konsthallen
The twice-yearly baptisms are an important occasion for the primarily black congregation at Cannon Street Baptists. During the service the baptism pool is uncovered, the pastor, supporter and the person to be baptized enter into the water. From the series Under Gods © Liz Hingley, courtesy Fabrica United Kingdom. From the group show Up to Now organised by Fabrica in the Exercishallen
Rachel stays in the bedroom of Jesse and Mike after her the arrest of her boyfriend, Lucky. January, 2005. From the series The Ninth Floor © Jessica Dimmock, courtesy Fabrica USA. This project received the first F Award, the International Award for Concerned Photography created by Fabrica, and was published by Contrasto in 2007. From the group show Up to Now organised by Fabrica in the Exercishallen
As 1991 continues to recede farther and farther into the distance, Central Asia, the former Soviet territory positioned between Russia, China, and the Middle East, is in the process of reinventing itself. Central Asians still speak Russian, but more and more of them are learning English or Chinese. They remain largely secular, but are practicing Islam in increasing numbers. Formations is a photographic narrative of this region as it navigates this transitional period, between the Soviet legacy and its still undetermined future. Formations was published by Fabrica in 2016. Formations © Aleksey Kondratyev, courtesy Fabrica Kyrgyzstan/USA. From the group show Up to Now organised by Fabrica in the Exercishallen
In 2014, when this photo was taken in Namie, 7km away from the Fukushima power station, the products in this supermarket had been left in place since the disaster. A native of Koriyama, 60km away from the nuclear power station, Midori Ito came to report on the state of the no-go zone. From the series Fukushima – No Go Zone © Carlos Ayesta and Guillaume Bression, on show in the Citadellet
From the series The Others (Phase 1), shot in India, 2009-2013 © Olivier Culmann, on show in the Konsthallen
Kendra © Alexandra Polina, from the Open Call show
Nobody likes to be hindered by worldly troubles © Franky Verdikct, from the Open call show
From the series DeDewDewIts © Hiro Tanaka, from the Open Call show
Vortex 2 © Jan Maschinski, from the Open Call show
The Big Jump, from the series Poupées (2016) © Neus Sola. From the Open Call show
Push the sky away © Piotrz Bierski, from the Open Call show
Diane Smyth

Diane Smyth is the editor of BJP, returning for a second stint on staff in 2023, after 15 years on the team until 2019. She also edits the Photoworks Annual, and has written for The Guardian, FT Weekend Magazine, Aperture, FOAM, and Apollo, plus catalogues and monographs. Diane lectures in photography history and theory at the London College of Communications, and has curated exhibitions for The Photographers Gallery and Lianzhou Foto Festival. Follow her on instagram @dismy