Preview: photokina 08

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From 23rd - 28th September of this year, Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany will play host to photokina 2008, the leading international trade fair for the entire photographic and imaging sector. It is the only event in the world that offers a comprehensive presentation of all the imaging media, imaging technologies and imaging markets – for consumers and professionals alike – covering everything from photo kiosks and data storage through to image editing, transmission and output.
 
Around 1,600 suppliers from 50 countries will be presenting at this year’s ‘World of Imaging,’ with more than 60% of them coming from outside Germany. More than 160,000 visitors from 140 countries, mostly professional users and dealers, are expected to travel to Cologne for the show.
 
Photo kiosks will once again feature strongly at photokina 2008, where nearly all of the world’s leading photo kiosk solutions providers will be displaying their latest models and technical innovations.
 
The international business forum ‘Memories on Demand’ promises to be the top event of the photokina 2008 supporting program: top-ranking international managers from the photographic and imaging industry, both from the trade and respective service sectors, will address the effects of digital imaging technologies on consumer lifestyles and present innovative business models. About 400 decision-makers from around the world are expected to attend the event on the second and third days of the fair.
 
Major international business executives will present their visions for marketing technologies such as digital imaging, mobile communication, consumer electronics and the growing range of photographic possibilities provided by the internet.
 
The Visual Gallery will once again be presenting the best work of internationally known photographers and award-winning young artists. Thomas Hoepker will display highlights from his distinguished career as a photojournalist. Hoepker received two awards in photokina’s “Jugend photographiert” (Young Imaging Days) competition back in the 1950s, when he was still in his early 20s. In 1958 Hoepker, who now lives in New York, took part in photokina’s “Deutsche Bilderschau” (German Photo Review). Further highlights at the Visual Gallery will include exhibitions from the “Cicero Gallery for Political Photography,” MAPHO (Museum for Architectural Photography), and the German Association of Freelance Photographers (BFF).
 
Following the event’s successful integration into the unique creative centre in Hall 1 in 2006, the next Visual Gallery will once again be the focus of the ‘By Professionals for Professionals’ meeting point. The latter brings together the Visual Gallery, the ‘Meet the Professionals’ area, and the ‘Academy meets photokina’ section. This year’s Visual Gallery curator will be Gérard A. Goodrow. Juliane Rückriem will organise the event. Admission to the Visual Gallery will also be free for visitors in 2008.
 
The ‘top act’ at this year’s exhibition will be photographs by the U.S. actor and director Dennis Hopper. Long before he made his international breakthrough in 1969 with ‘Easy Rider,’ Hopper had made a name for himself as a photographer. Between 1961 and 1967 Hopper documented the turbulent scenes of a new era with impressive images of the U.S. civil rights movement and created numerous striking portraits of the young stars of popular art from his own generation. The exhibition includes portraits of David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Ed Ruscha, and Andy Warhol.