Copenhagen Photo Festival (CPF) 2027 is showcasing an artistically and conceptually ambitious programme that celebrates creativity and experimentation within photography and lens-based art, and aims to build bridges between fine art and documentary photography.

The festival takes place in the center of Copenhagen as well as at collaborating galleries, museums and cultural institutions in Copenhagen and southern Sweden. Throughout the festival, photography is on the agenda through exhibitions, networking programs, workshops, talks, photobook market and more.

Theme 2027 · 'Frie hænder | Free Hands'

What does it mean to have free hands at a time when the gap between rich and poor, between those in power and ordinary people, continues to widen? In some places, freedom is taken for granted. Elsewhere, it is a daily struggle.

Technological upheaval, authoritarian currents and violent conflicts are challenging our understanding of freedom. At the same time, we are bombarded with information and presented with more choices than ever before – while technologies increasingly serve us and automate our everyday lives.

In Danish, the expression ‘frie hænder' means having the unlimited freedom to act, to make your own decisions and shape your own path. Historically, such freedom was the privilege of the few rather than a universal human right. Yet in 2026, our freedom to act remains under pressure, and democracy is in global decline. This is why we have chosen Free Hands as the theme for the coming festival. To have free hands is to be able to shape your own life and express your opinions without fear of censorship or punishment.

But free hands also refers to artistic freedom in a very literal way: the freedom to create uncensored work, to interpret worldviews, values, beliefs, emotions and dreams without constraint. To dare take new paths at the risk of getting lost. To improvise and sketch freehand without knowing the result in advance.

Photography has always been about the human gaze and the human imprint. About choosing what to reveal and what to leave out. At a time when images are increasingly produced automatically, questions of the human touch, intention and presence have become more relevant than ever. The work of the hand is inherently human – it is imperfect, but also unique.

Free hands are not only a gift. It also carries doubt, responsibility and risk. When nothing is decided for us anymore, we must choose our own direction. Free hands can create new possibilities – but they can also confront us with the abyss of freedom.

New technologies can free us from routine tasks and open up new creative possibilities. But what happens to our judgement, our hands and our way of seeing when we entrust more of our work to machines? As technology enters our most intimate sphere, the human imprint becomes increasingly significant. We seek authenticity, presence and the human being behind the image.

With the theme Free Hands, we invite artists and audiences alike to break free from old patterns – both literally and metaphorically – and to explore what free hands do to us as human beings: when we take freedom of action for granted, and when we are forced to fight for it.