BPM 2025

The group exhibition of the 12th edition of Photon’s International Photography Competition, Different Worlds 2024, presents a compelling selection of ten finalists from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), offering insight into the latest trends in contemporary photography. This exhibition showcases the creativity, originality, and conceptual depth of emerging photographers under 35 years of age, who challenge and expand the boundaries of the photographic medium. While the competition does not have a prescribed theme, the final selection often includes works spanning a wide range of photographic and photography-related practices.
Through diverse themes and approaches, the selected artists navigate topics ranging from personal and collective memory to social issues, identity, and the interplay between technology and tradition. Their use of photography extends beyond documentation, and in some cases incorporates experimental techniques. This year’s finalists present a rich spectrum of visual narratives that reflect on the contemporary condition.
Selected by a four-member international jury composed of professionals and key figures in the field of photography, the finalists’ works stand out for their strong artistic voices and innovative approaches. This exhibition was first shown at Photon Gallery in Ljubljana at the end of 2024.

Finalists: 
1st prize: Olja Simčič Jerele (SI)
2nd prize: Anna Gajewszky (HU)
3rd prize: Dorka Székely (HU)
Áron Tóth-Heyn (HU), Filip Jakubowski (PL), Patrícia Koroknai (HU), Marija Mandić (RS), Artur Procházka (SK), Márk Péter Szabó (HU), Tim Topić (SI).

Mon – Fri 10 – 16h

Woman with a Monkey – Afterimages of the History I Witnessed
(Afterimage definition: A visual or mental sensation that persists 
after the original stimulus has ended)

The selection of images presented is rooted in various projects I made over the year. They represent my approach to news photography, which I prefer to label as documentary. Document serves beyond current events and day-to-day information. It documents not just certain events but fixates on the mood of a historical moment; it is not literal and does not require logic or explanatory elements typical of straightforward reporting. My work reflects the prevailing mood of the time and place. Most often, it is located away from a central event or at the edges of the main focus, becoming afterimage of it. Mixing personal with impersonal, that work is about dreams—imagined, lost, or transformed after the handshakes of politicians are completed for 
the media. A photographer, when an artist, is a storyteller—rather than a mechanical recorder of events and life, sifting through an endless space full of information and extracting its own message out of it. The photographer’s eye is a curating one ; the photograph itself is not an explanation but a note, a color, or a shape reflecting the experience of the modern man.

This exhibition is made possible thanks to the Polish Institute in Belgrade.

justmiel.com • @justmiel

Mon – Sat 11 – 19h

The cycle is a personal story about a journey. The images, which make up a cycle, show reality from the perspective of a Traveler, who, by penetrating the strange and incomprehensible world of Africa, tries to uncover universal truths about life, death, rebirth and transformation. The attempt to enter the invisible dimension of spirituality and immortality occurs through an exploration of images of emptiness and abandoned, neglected and ruined 
sites interwoven with shots of organic structures, decaying animal matter and objects of a sacred nature. 

Although the series is the result of the author’s fascination with original beliefs, spirituality, rituals, and worship of nature, it does not have an ethnographic aspect. The places captured in the images cannot be specifically identified, which serves to emphasize the superiority of ideas over reality. The images are like blocks. Anima encourages one to seek, but does not promise that the path will be a straightforward. 

The pictures were taken between 2005 and 2013 during numerous trips Africa continent, spanning such countries as Algeria, Benin, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Morocco, Republic of South Africa, Rwanda, Senegal, Swaziland, Tanzania and Uganda.

This exhibition is made possible thanks to the Polish Institute in Belgrade.

hueckel.com.pl • @magdalena_hueckel

Mon – Sat 11 – 19h

BETONIUM, created by Katerina Kouzmitcheva, investigates the relationship between contemporary identity and architectural heritage in Central and Eastern Europe, focusing on the legacy of prefabricated residential blocks as instruments of urban control and ideological power. The project explores how these structures, shaped by the policies of former regimes, have influenced the collective identity of their inhabitants. 
Through artistic interventions—including conceptual actions in urban spaces, photography, performances, and collages—BETONIUM reveals the synthesis of historical and contemporary realities embedded in these environments. By creating “moving human sculptures,” the project metaphorically reflects the ideological influence on individuals, while photographic works capture the architectural commonalities across different countries. A key element of the project involves transposing images of panel-block facades from one country into another, forming a universal, imagined cityscape. These compositions highlight both the shared and divergent experiences of those living in these spaces. 
Spanning 11 countries, including Poland, Slovakia, Georgia, Estonia, Serbia, and Belarus, BETONIUM documents everyday life in panel housing estates, presenting an intimate yet critical perspective. Combining personal experience with research, Kouzmitcheva challenges perceptions of postsocialist architecture, revealing its role in shaping a unique cultural identity distinct from, yet equal to, its Western counterparts.
This exhibition is made possible thanks to the Polish Institute in Belgrade and is part of the BINA Festival.
katerinakouzmitcheva.com • @katerina_kouzmitcheva
Mon – Sat 11 – 19h