THE THOUSAND KYOTO Sponsors "KYOTOGRAPHIE Kyoto International Photo Festival 2026" Again This Year

THE THOUSAND KYOTO (Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto; General Manager: Miwa Sakurai), a flagship hotel of the Keihan Group, has decided to sponsor the "KYOTOGRAPHIE Kyoto International Photo Festival 2026," to be held from Saturday, April 18 to Sunday, May 17, 2026, as a premium hotel partner, continuing its support from last year. In conjunction with the festival period, we will sell special accommodation plans that include KYOTOGRAPHIE passport tickets, and will also hold a satellite exhibition at the art gallery located next to the hotel's first-floor entrance.

"KYOTOGRAPHIE" is one of Asia's largest international photo festivals, attracting approximately 300,000 visitors last year. Held in Kyoto, a world-class cultural city, the 14th edition this year will unfold diverse programs under the theme "EDGE," featuring 14 artists from 8 countries and regions. Against the backdrop of unique venues such as 12 museums and historic buildings scattered throughout Kyoto, you can enjoy encounters with new works and dialogues between spaces and artworks.

Our hotel has been a premium hotel partner since 2023 and, since 2024, has also participated as a satellite venue for "KG+", an event aimed at discovering and supporting artists expected to be active in the future. This year too, in alignment with the philosophy of "KYOTOGRAPHIE" and "KG+", and with the desire to energize the art scene from Kyoto Station, we will hold a solo exhibition of works by Kyungtaek Lee, who also runs an art gallery in Korea, at the art gallery on the first floor of the hotel.

As a "Sustainable Comfort Hotel" that delivers heartwarming experiences to people, society, and the future, THE THOUSAND KYOTO supports Kyoto's cultural and artistic activities. In addition to housing an art gallery within the premises, the hotel permanently displays numerous artworks expressing Kyoto and nature through diverse materials and techniques, continuing our efforts to pass on the artistic culture that has continuously developed in Kyoto, the ancient capital, to the next millennium without extinguishing it.

KG+2026 | Kyungtaek Lee Solo Exhibition "No man's land" Exhibition Outline

At the art gallery next to the hotel's first-floor entrance, in conjunction with "KG+2026," one of the satellite events, we will co-host a solo exhibition of photographer Kyungtaek Lee with AN INC., a contemporary art gallery based in Seoul, South Korea.

[Exhibition Period] Saturday, April 18, 2026 - Sunday, May 17, 2026 *Viewable at your leisure.
[Venue] THE THOUSAND KYOTO, 1st Floor, Art Gallery
[Admission] Free
[Organizer] AN INC.
[URL] https://www.keihanhotels-resorts.co.jp/the-thousand-kyoto/plan/special-offer/kyotographie2026.html

Kyungtaek Lee

Photographer Kyungtaek Lee is an artist who interprets the meaning of existence through "unexpected encounters." Through coincidental encounters with the materials and landscapes of the earth, he expands the meaning of the relationship between objects and humans, and the history of humankind, reconnecting them from a new perspective.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/83soultag/

About the Exhibition

"No man’s land" is a series that deals with artificial structures found at the boundaries of modern civilization and lands that cannot be inhabited by humans. We usually tend to think that artificial objects disappear eventually, but the artist felt a certain permanence in how they do not disappear but become naturalized within the eternal earth.

These structures are traces of human presence, discovered by chance in the Himalayas and Andes mountains, island regions of East Asia, and even in Russia and the Arctic Circle. Through old artificial objects left in solitude, the artist speaks of the lonely inner self of us modern people, who carry a wilder, unfinished self.

At the same time, the artist also turns his attention to the paradox that we will eventually assimilate into our surroundings and become "part" of the landscape.

All works are produced as large-format photographs exceeding 140 centimeters, and instead of regular photographic paper, they are printed on printmaking paper.