Kyotographie 2026

Held annually in the world-renowned cultural capital of Japan, Kyotographie transforms Kyoto into a stage for photography through close collaboration between artists, curators, scenographers, and local craftspeople.

Overview

For 2026, Kyotographie presents a compelling main program under the theme Edge, bringing together 13 photographers and artists from 8 countries to explore experimental image-making, social and historical peripheries, urban and technological thresholds, humanity's encounter with nature at its extremes, and much more.

Elusive and liminal, the edge can inhabit many physical, social, and psychological forms. It may evoke the tension of a cliff edge, the tipping point of conflict, or the instability of a life lived on the margins.

In photography, too, the edge is inherent. Throughout history, the medium has always existed on the fringes, hovering between document and art; truth and fiction. Now, with the dawn of new technologies and an overload of images, photography faces a new edge – of uncertainty, but also discovery. What lies beyond any edge is unknowable, but does chaos always end in collapse? Or can the edge invite us to imagine a different world?

KYOTOGRAPHIE 2026 explores the edge as a site of both tension and transition. We see radical approaches to photography alongside studies of urban decline, while documents of marginal communities intersect with ongoing issues of colonisation and territorial disputes. We also explore the transcendental force of nature, and see how reaching an edge can open up new ways of seeing, thinking, and creating – even in the face of the bleakest environmental, political, and personal turmoil.

The edge is a place of uncertainty, yes, but also of possibility. A place where something ends to make way for something new.

Three artists from South Africa feature in this year's program, following the co-directors' recent research trip to the region, deepening the festival's connection with contemporary African photography.

Among the exhibiting artists are Daido Moriyama, Linder Sterling, Juliette Agnel, Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre, Atsushi Fukushima, Thandiwe Muriu, Federico Estol, Anton Corbijn, Sari Shibata, Fatma Hassona, Lebohang Kganye, Pieter Hugo, and Ernest Cole. Plus, A4 Arts Foundation presents a browsable exhibition of photobooks from the 1940s to now, tracing South Africa’s history through the art of bookmaking.

Beyond the main exhibitions, the festival once again takes over Kyoto with a citywide program of talks, workshops, and events that invite discovery and dialogue. The Kids Program, Masterclass Workshops, International Portfolio Review, Public Program events, and Photobook Fair details can be found in the press kit.

Running in parallel, KG+, the satellite festival showcasing diverse photographic practices, and Kyotophonie, the music and sound art festival, further expand this spirit across the city, together transforming Kyoto into a living stage for photography, sound, and human connection.