Location:
PlaceM Gallery, Tokyo
Date:
9 February - 22 February 2026
Curator:
Masato Seto
“Living only for the moment, turning our full attention to the pleasures of the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms and the maples, singing songs, drinking wine and diverting ourselves in just floating, floating; caring not a whit for the poverty staring us in the face, refusing to be disheartened, like a gourd floating along with the river current: this is what we call ukiyo.”
- Asai Ryoi, Tales of the Floating World
The word ukiyo carries two histories in its sound. Originally written to mean "sorrowful world," it reflected the Buddhist view of life as suffering and impermanence. Later, in Edo-period Japan, the same sound was rewritten to mean "floating world," celebrating fleeting pleasures, cherry blossoms, and revelry. I've come to believe both meanings belong together, that joy and sorrow are inseparable in every passing moment.
Walking the streets, I'm drawn to where these meanings collide. A monk caught mid-laughter. Children play while time slips past. Ordinary scenes that suddenly feel strange, like looking at the world through water. I work with black and white film because it strips away everything except light and shadow, leaving only what matters.
The vertical format feels natural for this work, the way ukiyo-e prints stood tall and narrow. It holds solitude well, that inward gaze. When I turn the camera sideways, the frame opens differently, breathing wider to catch festivals and crowds, the expansive moments of celebration.
Like the ukiyo-e masters who paired their prints, I find myself placing images in conversation. One answers another. Joy beside longing. Stillness next to movement. What interests me is the space between, where opposing truths live together.
We're all just floating along, like gourds on a river. These are the moments I've grabbed as I drift past.
Place M is Tokyo’s oldest independent photography gallery, founded in 1987 by a collective of practitioners as a space for experimentation and community exchange. Since its inception, the gallery has operated continuously in Shinjuku, making it among the longest-running photographic venues in the city’s contemporary art scene.
The initiative emerged from the shared vision of photographers, including Masato Seto and Daido Moriyama, alongside peers Nobuhiko Ono, Yusuke Nakai and others, to create a place where exhibitions, workshops and critical dialogue around the photographic medium could flourish outside institutional constraints.
Over its decades-long history, Place M has maintained a reputation as a foundational platform for Tokyo’s independent photographic scene, fostering generations of makers and serving as a vital node in the city’s rich photographic culture.
Location:
RANDOM Gallery, Budapest
Date:
22 April - 17 May 2024
Curator:
Szilvia Mucsy
Opening speech:
Miklós Gulyás, photographer
Vernissage photo credits:
Ádám Kuttner,PhD
“Azurite was also called citramarine, suggesting its origins on the near side of the sea.”
- Stella Paul, art historian
There are many kinds of blue - all the same blue, yet with inexhaustible permutations of appearance, impact and meaning. Artists have long chased the sensory thrills ignited by tropical light and the myriad hues of blue, embarking on journeys to distant lands of the Caribbean or Africa.
Andras Ikladi’s photographic exploration of colour commenced when he arrived in the subtropical city of Xiamen, South China. Previously working in the style of high contrast and grainy black-and-white photography, he found himself irresistibly pulled into this new dimension, resulting in his first body of work using colour: Citramarine.
Exploring the complexities of light and its interplay with colour unveils their psychological influence. Tropical hues possess a unique potency to evoke emotions, shape narratives, and even alter moods. The warm embrace of tropical light, the caressing warm breeze and the soft grainy sand trigger profound responses within our souls, allowing us to enter another space, where the interplay of light and colour reaches into the depths of human experience.
Citramarine is a realm beyond visual perception.
RANDOM group and gallery maintains a close relationship with the Budapest Photo Festival, regularly participating in its programme and contributing exhibitions that foreground emerging and experimental photographic practices. The connection is strengthened through Szilvia Mucsy, photographer and curator, who serves both as director of the Festival and as a leading figure within RANDOM. This overlap creates a productive dialogue between the gallery’s independent, artist-driven platform and the wider international framework of the Festival.
Photographic Visions is a biannual exhibition at PH21 Gallery showcasing mini-series of works from selected artists. Our goal is to celebrate the work of photographers with progressive and visionary portfolios, pushing the boundaries of photography in the 21st century. Photographic Visions – Spring 2025 features three images presented in mini-series from 13 photographers.
CITRAMARINE - There are many kinds of blue - all the same blue, yet with inexhaustible permutations of appearance, impact and meaning. Artists have long chased the sensory thrills ignited by tropical light and the myriad hues of blue, embarking on journeys to distant lands of the Caribbean or Africa.
Tropical hues possess a unique potency to evoke emotions, shape narratives, and even alter moods. The warm embrace of tropical light, the caressing warm breeze and the soft, grainy sand trigger profound responses within our souls, allowing us to enter another space, where the interplay of light and colour
reaches into the depths of human experience.
Citramarine is a realm beyond visual perception.
"We all wear masks. At Halloween, Mardi Gras. At work we are one person, at home, another, and with friends we have yet more masks to choose from. We're looking for images with masks, literal and figurative, color or BW, analog, digital or antique processes, photographers of all skill levels and locations are welcome."
Photographic Visions is a biannual exhibition at PH21 Gallery showcasing mini-series of works from selected artists. Our goal is to celebrate the work of photographers with progressive and visionary portfolios, pushing the boundaries of photography in the 21st century. Photographic Visions – Spring 2025 features three images presented in mini-series from 13 photographers.
My artist statement from the exhibition accompanying the book dummy:
"With a background in film, I use photography as a means of personal expression, engaging with themes of surrealism beneath the surface of the everyday, impermanence, and fear. My work is driven by the desire to create layers of meaning, exploring the nonlinear narrative qualities of the medium. The photobook is central to my process, offering an intimate, authored space where themes unfold through sequencing. This invites viewers to become the author of their experience, filling the gaps between photographs and becoming part of the narrative by forming connections across the images. This relational approach emphasizes my belief that photographs are not isolated objects but part of an ongoing dialogue with the audience." — Andras Ikladi
"The exhibition aims to showcase what we see in each other’s homelands, the enduring values we carry with us regardless of borders and distances, how we perceive China, and how our Chinese friends perceive Hungary. This is expressed through the universal language of photography, bypassing linguistic barriers.
We aim to highlight natural beauty, architectural heritage, people, destinies, experiences, aspirations, joys, and sorrows—those everyday emotions that both sides can understand and relate to.
The primary objective of this initiative is to demonstrate how the friendship between the two nations has deepened over the past 75 years.
Let us take a glimpse together into the recent history of our countries, the development of our homelands, the growing ties and connections forged between nations and individuals, and their transformation into strong bonds."
“Shapes are one of the most important aspects of creative photographic compositions. Living beings and inanimate objects, including the built environment, come in many forms, and photographers often rely on the creative possibilities offered by their shapes. While in some cases the images of things only serve a depictive function, at the other end of the spectrum, abstract photography concentrates on shapes and forms for their own sake, to the point where we can no longer recognise the depicted objects themselves. Between being either insignificant or the only significant element, the shape of recognisable forms may also be the driving compositional component of an image. That is, the shapes of living beings and objects may be of central importance to the composition of photographs, not only in abstract photography but also in virtually all other photographic genres. These images capture our attention and stand out for their creative compositional form.”
"Out of the ordinary is often characterised as strange, unusual, odd, peculiar, bizarre, uncanny, weird, mysterious, or even surreal. Subjects, scenes, themes, perspectives, compositions, portrayed events, visual experiences, and imaginative narratives may all deviate from the ordinary. Photographers often step into the realm of the extraordinary through the lens of their camera, embracing the unconventional, where the peculiar dances with the mysterious, and the odd intertwines with the surreal. They explore the realms of strange, unusual, and uncanny. Some venture into the world of traditional straight photography, where authenticity captures the essence of the outlandish. Others delve into staged photography, where each frame unfolds a narrative beyond the ordinary, or embrace the art of photomontage, seamlessly blending disparate elements to craft a visual tapestry of uniqueness. AI-generated photo-based images offer a digital canvas to manifest the bizarre and create a fusion of reality and imagination. This exhibition celebrates the diversity of perspectives that redefine the ordinary and elevate the extraordinary. The photographer’s lens is the gateway to a realm where the peculiar becomes art, the bizarre transforms into beauty, and the unconventional takes centre stage."