The Imaging World photography trade show will move to Cologne in 2027, taking over the Koelnmesse complex that hosted Photokina for decades. The announcement came at the close of the show's three-day run in Nuremberg on Sunday, October 4, 2026.

What does the Cologne move change for exhibitors and attendees?

The 2027 edition will land at Koelnmesse, the Cologne exhibition operator that ran Photokina until the show's final edition in 2022. Imaging World framed the relocation, in its own announcement headline, as picking up where Photokina left off.

Koelnmesse staged the news against a "100 YEARS" plaza display — a centenary reference tied to the venue operator rather than to Imaging World itself. The visual cue positions the Cologne complex, not the show brand, as the durable European imaging meeting point.

For exhibitors, the move cuts the friction of relearning a venue. The same loading bays, buyer flow, and retailer meetings that anchored Photokina's last decade now sit under a new show name. For attendees, the trade-off is geographic: Cologne sits closer to Benelux and the Rhine-Ruhr retail base, but farther from southern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland than Nuremberg did.

Why does the Photokina brand still carry weight?

Photokina defined European imaging trade for more than 70 years. Its 2022 cancellation left a calendar gap that brand activations have filled unevenly:

• CP+ in Yokohama, which has captured much of the manufacturer's launch calendar
• The Photography Show in Birmingham, focused on UK retail
• CES in Las Vegas, which now hosts several imaging-adjacent launches
• Ad-hoc regional events that don't replicate Photokina's combined retail-and-press footprint

Imaging World's 2027 move is a calculated attempt to reclaim that gap from a venue designed to host it.

What does the show actually deliver for working pros?

The Nuremberg 2026 edition ran three days and paired manufacturer booths with professional programming. Cologne's hall capacity, if Imaging World takes additional halls, opens room for medium-format and cinema-camera demos — categories that require hands-on floor time and resist evaluation through spec sheets alone.

For full-time photographers and photo businesses, the venue shift reduces to three operational questions:

• Booth budgets: Cologne halls command pricing comparable to other top-tier European venues; specific 2027 exhibitor rates have not been published
• Travel logistics: Cologne/Bonn airport and the ICE rail hub shorten European access, but add a transfer for anyone driving from Bavaria
• Show timing: 2027 dates and a press-day schedule are still pending

A bigger hall footprint also means more brand activation space — and potentially more competing events from the same vendors, which can dilute first-day press attention.

What's next?

Imaging World's organizer has not released 2027 dates, hall assignments, or exhibitor pricing. The next concrete milestone will be the floor plan and press-day calendar, expected in early 2027.

The Cologne move amounts to a calculated bet: that European imaging trade still needs a single flagship venue, and that Koelnmesse, not a new operator, is where that flagship belongs.