On Friday, May 15, 2026 at 7:00 PM, a double opening of two exceptional contemporary visual art exhibitions will take place at Železničná Street 3 in Trenčín. At Galéria FOR MAAT, the international photography exhibition European Eyes on Japan by Dominika Jackuliaková and Finnish photographer Sanna Krook will open, while the industrial space beneath the gallery will host the solo exhibition Untitled 2026 by Trenčín-born artist Denisa Lehocká.
The project European Eyes on Japan | Japan Today is one of the long-standing international initiatives supporting cultural exchange between Europe and Japan. Since 1999, it has invited photographers from European countries to residency stays in various regions of Japan, where they reflect on the contemporary character of the country, local communities, and everyday life through artistic photography. The project is organized by the EU Japan Fest Japan Committee, which has systematically supported cooperation between Japan and cities involved in the European Capitals of Culture programme since 1993.
In the project’s 25th anniversary edition, Slovak visual artist Dominika Jackuliaková and Finnish photographer Sanna Krook focused on Fukui Prefecture, located on the western edge of the Hokuriku region. They completed their residencies during the spring and autumn of 2025.
Dominika Jackuliaková joined the project through an open call. In cooperation with EU Japan Fest, Trenčín 2026 sent her on a residency stay to Japan, and an expert jury together with the Japanese partners selected her as the Slovak representative of the project’s anniversary edition.
In her photographic series, she focused on the city of Fukui and its railway infrastructure, which became a point of orientation for her while exploring the city. “The railway line, located just five minutes from my apartment building, quickly became an anchor point during my five-week stay in Fukui,” the artist explains. “The buildings and structures, often quite ordinary, visually attracted me while also functioning as pillars within my mental map of the city.”
Photo: Dominika Jackuliaková
During her stay, Finnish photographer Sanna Krook photographed the areas of Awara and Sakai, particularly the small village of Mikuni-anto. In her photographs, she explores relationships between place, community, and identity. She is interested in how landscape and environment shape people, their humour, language, and aesthetic sensibilities. Her images create a visual tapestry of everyday life and human connections.
The exhibition began its exhibition journey in the Finnish city of Oulu, where it was presented in April at the MABD Gallery, and it is now moving to Trenčín as part of the collaboration between partner cities within the European Capital of Culture 2026 – Oulu and Trenčín initiative. After its presentation in Slovakia, the exhibition will continue to Japan.
The evening will also be dedicated to the work of Denisa Lehocká, whose art is characterised by a sensitive approach to space, memory, and the bodily experience of spectatorship. The programme will include a guided reading titled Ode to Joy (Despite Everything) with curator and art theorist Mária Hlavajová, who will approach the artist’s work through the lens of joy as a form of resistance, freedom, and imagination.
The exhibition itself, Untitled 2026, curated by Lýdia Pribišová, was created specifically for the underground industrial space of a former food storage facility beneath Galéria FOR MAAT. In it, Denisa Lehocká works with the organic expansion of objects into space, creating an immersive installation based on movement, sensory perception, and the viewer’s bodily presence. The exhibition reflects the artist’s subjective memory, personal story, and experience of uprootedness.
Don’t miss an evening full of art!
