First-ever European Photography Month in Japan
As the first European photography festival in Japan, SEEEU features 14 internationally acclaimed photographers and over 250 artworks. The festival presents free exhibitions across Tokyo’s indoor and outdoor spaces—including construction sites, galleries, and cafés—and aims to connect Japanese and European photography communities, fostering international artistic exchange.
New perspectives
Photography speaks a universal language. It crosses borders, blending journalism and art to express what words cannot. Through their lenses, European artists reveal the continent’s character—its values, tensions, and quiet moments of truth. European photography, however, remains little known in Japan.
With 27 member states, the EU offers a remarkable range of creative voices, each with its own story to tell. Japan, too, has a strong photographic tradition and an appetite for international exchange. SEEEU brings these worlds together, connecting photographers, curators, and audiences across continents.
Cityscape as Art Space
Starting in Autumn 2025, SEEEU unfolds across Tokyo as a month-long celebration of European photography. The festival turns the city into an open gallery—installing free exhibitions on construction walls, embassies, cafés, and galleries. It’s art in motion, woven into the fabric of daily life, reaching people where they are.
Beyond aesthetics, SEEEU is also cultural diplomacy in practice. The works on display highlight Europe’s social landscapes and shared ideals—democracy, human dignity, and peace. By showing them in Japan’s public spaces, the festival invites a quiet conversation between two cultures, reminding us that photography, at its best, doesn’t just capture the world—it connects it.
Message from Curators
What moved me to participate in SEEEU was the idea of two parts of the world—Europe and Japan—joining hands to engage with the events unfolding across Europe.
This time, diverse European stories and values will be installed into the city of Tokyo through the language of photography. As these different contexts flow into the familiar landscapes and everyday rhythms of the city, the contours of reality may begin to appear slightly renewed. I look forward to witnessing the very moment when the public nature and interactive possibilities of photography come to life.
Mutsuko Ota, co-curator
What excites me about SEEEU is how contemporary photography extends beyond institutional spaces and becomes part of the city itself. Encountered in everyday streets and rhythms, the works do not merely illustrate but actively shift how we perceive our surroundings. I am drawn to practices that unfold slowly, creating room for ambiguity, reflection, and multiple readings rather than fixed conclusions. In this way, SEEEU offers not only an exhibition but a living dialogue with the public realm — a chance for images to resonate unexpectedly, and for new connections and perspectives to emerge.
Kim Boske, co-curator
If you’re reading this, SEEEU’s mission is already taking shape. The artists are here, the events are unfolding, and the works are waiting to be discovered. See you in Tokyo’s artistic playground.
Organizer
KOI Nippon, a Japan–Lithuania creative production studio upcycling cultural ideas into new forms of collaboration. We craft cross-cultural events and art-tech projects—from Baltic exhibitions in Tokyo to Japan’s biggest cultural festivals in the Baltics. Among our other initiatives are the first-ever Baltic art project in Japan Human Baltic (2024), the largest Japanese cultural festival in the Baltics nowJapan (2009–2022), and Barabi-chan, the Baltic Pavilion mascot for Expo 2025 Osaka. As organizers of SEEEU, we connect artists, institutions, and audiences, turning shared creativity into a dialogue between Europe and Japan.
