Capture Your City 2021: A City for Everyone
Exhibition
Jun 18 - Sep 29, 2021
Experience the 55 photographs selected as the year’s best in the photo competition Capture Your City. The exhibition, now in its 6th consecutive year, is on display at Bryghuspladsen and at several libraries across the country.
The selected photos, captured by ordinary Danes, all interpret this year’s theme A City for Everyone and show how architecture frames both community and loneliness in our urban spaces. The photographs reveal how the city can offer a magical pause and the possibility to use the city in one’s own unique way – but also how it can be a hierarchy, where some must toil while others enjoy it as a recreational space.
The photo exhibition is displayed at Bryghuspladsen in front of the Danish Architecture Center throughout the exhibition period, and, for the first time this year, it is also presented at several libraries across the country.
Photo: Oliver Sperling Oliver Sperling
The jury says: "The winning photo is a strong, socially aware and highly relevant photo! It perfectly captures the spirit of the times and illustrates how some people have to work hard so that others can live comfortably. The delivery worker brings people their dinner while others stay inside, safe from both rain and Covid. The container tunnel gives the delivery worker some shelter, but only for the moment the photograph lasts. The cold, gloomy colors give the photo weight and emphasize the social realism: the city is also a hierarchy."
Photo: Anders Hjerming Anders Hjerming
The jury says: "This photo shows the use of Copenhagen’s lakes as a new, white and magical urban space that quickly transformed into a popular, bustling hub. It is a powerful snapshot of the Covid reality, because even though we finally had a cold enough winter to open up these new urban spaces, we weren’t allowed to make full use of them. The photo shows how the authorities try to create structure using signs, while the people move about freely – and that is what makes this photo particularly relevant to today’s reality."
Photo: Erik Jacoby Petersen Erik Jacoby Petersen
The jury says: "This photo tells a clear story about everyday routines in the city, where people take the bus to work in all kinds of weather. The city is alive, even on early, rainy mornings. The motif is wet, weighty and weary, but also beautiful, with the bright red color striking a contrast to all the gray and adding a sense of mystery to daily life. For some people, the city is a recreational playground, for others it is the place where daily life begins and ends."
Winners
Winners – School Contest
Photo: Siv-Silke Skallebæk Gerlach, Johanna Juhl- Nielsen Siv-Silke Skallebæk Gerlach / Johanna Juhl- Nielsen
7.c Haderslev Realskole
The jury says: "A beautiful photograph that poetically captures our times. The photograph has a strong composition, with the hand on the umbrella and the writing on the wall: “Take my hand”. It expresses what we all miss and mustn’t seek out in these Covid times – the physical contact that the city has always guaranteed to provide – making this photo both relevant and poetic. What’s more, the way the umbrella breaks the lines adds excitement to the photo."
Photo: Elliot Kristian Matthews, Rasmus Birkedal Wagner Elliot Kristian Matthews / Rasmus Birkedal Wagner
6.f Buddinge Skole
The jury says: "This photo questions how we plan our cities to provide good conditions for everyone. Here, we move from asphalt to concrete, and a brand-new playground is situated between two busy roads. The motif of the boy alone on the playground instills a feeling of abandonment and loneliness in the midst of the gray concrete. At the same time, the photo is well-composed, with the boy’s red colors adding warmth to the concrete landscape."
Photo: Idun Bjørg Asbjørnsdóttir, Martha Marie Preetzmann Madsen Idun Bjørg Asbjørnsdóttir / Martha Marie Preetzmann Madsen
7.b Bernadotteskolen
The jury says: "This photo screams “2021”. There is a powerful social and climate-conscious commentary associated with all the disposable masks you find discarded around the city. In an extremely short period of time, it has become hard to picture the city without masked faces, and this has erected a new barrier to our social lives in the city. This is a visually strong photo, with lovely colors and components, unpleasant and beautiful at the same time."
The Photo Contest Jury
Ritt Bjerregaard
Former Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, Social Democratic Party. Ritt Bjerregaard was a member of the Danish Parliament and held the positions of Minister of Education, Minister of Social Affairs and Minister of Food. She later became an EU Commissioner. During her term as Lord Mayor, one of Ritt Bjerregaard’s causes was inexpensive housing in Copenhagen.
Maja Dyrehauge
As CEO of Copenhagen Photo Festival, Maja shines a spotlight on international art and documentary photography. To Maja, photography is important because it has become an everyday language that everyone responds to and uses.
Niels Bjørn
Urbanist with a ph. d. in urban complexity and adviser to municipalities, housing organizations and others. Niels Bjørn has published the photo book “Life in China’s giant cities” and made the photo and film exhibition of the same name in DAC. Niels Bjørn has a background as a TV and film producer and currently hosts a podcast series called “Balladen om blokken” (Trouble on the Block) dealing with the issues of socially disadvantaged urban districts.
Dennis Skyum
Street and architecture photographer, who for more than 10 years has photographed all sorts of motifs on the streets of Denmark. Former winner of the Capture Your City.
Tanya Lindkvist
Tanya Lindkvist is Program Director at DAC and responsible for a comprehensive program with a strong focus on exhibitions, tours, events, activities, learning, workshops, and overall experience design for cultural audiences.
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