陳澄波 Chen Cheng-Po · 鄧南光 Teng NanKuang · 井上有一 Inoue Yuichi · 細江英公 Hosoe Eikoh · 威廉克萊因 William Klein · 中平卓馬 Nakahira Takuma · 菅木志雄 Suga Kishio · 森山大道 Moriyana Daido · 石田徹也 Ishida Tetsuya · 川內倫子 Kawauchi Rinko · 杉戶洋 Sugito Hiroshi · 高野綾 Takano Aya · 西村有 Nishimura Yu · 南谷理加 Minamitani Rika · 西野壯平 Nishino Sohei

Each Modern presents its annual photographic exhibition, "TOKYO." This exhibition transcends frameworks by integrating history and painting as contexts for dialogue. It showcases works spanning from 1926 to 2025, presenting an artistic historical panorama of Tokyo's socio-cultural transformations over the past century since the beginning of the Showa era.

The exhibition is structured along a temporal axis, divided into three major narrative chapters.

The first chapter features a rare overseas perspective work by Taiwanese pioneer artist Chen Cheng-Po, depicting the Tokyo National Museum in 1926. This piece engages in a dialogue with the experimental street scenes captured by photography pioneer Teng NanKuang between 1932 and 1935, together witnessing the complexities of Tokyo as a hub of modernization for Taiwan. The devastating Tokyo air raids of 1945 not only altered history but also transformed the creative trajectory of Inoue Yuichi, marking a pivotal moment of war and rebirth.

The second chapter highlights the cultural fervor during Japanese Economic Miracle, bringing together William Klein's Tokyo series and Hosoe Eikoh's BaraKei alongside vibrant portraits of Mishima Yukio, as well as works from Nakahira Takuma's Provoke period. These developments culminated in the 1970 Tokyo Biennale, where Suga Kishio and the Mono-ha movement revealed the evolution of contemporary Japanese art over the following three decades. However, the post-1980s era saw Japan grappling with the specter of economic bubbles and the anxieties of the turn of the century, as reflected in Moriyama Daido's neon street scenes and Ishida Tetsuya's distorted bodies, illustrating the physical and psychological expansion and collapse of the city, as Tokyo shifted from a fervor of collectivism to existential anxiety.

The final chapter arrives in the 21st century, where Kawauchi Rinko's poignant reflections and ephemeral moments set the tone for the new century. Continuing this narrative, contemporary painters Sugito Hiroshi and Takano Aya, along with today's Nishimura Yu, convey the second Japan’s Lost Decade through their unique languages. In 2024, Nishino Sohei revisits the theme of Tokyo with his Diorama Map, presenting a spiritual map of post-Olympic Tokyo before us. This group exhibition serves as a contemporary interpretation of Tokyo as an ongoing urban text.