A group exhibition featuring the finalists of the 14th edition of the Photon International Photography Competition for Young Photographers from Central and Eastern Europe.

At the Photon Gallery, we are opening the group exhibition Different Worlds 2026, which marks the fourteenth edition of the international photography competition. The exhibition presents a selection of ten finalists of the competition for young and emerging artists working in the field of contemporary authorial photography, aged up to 35, from countries across the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region.

Each year, the Photon International Photography Competition aims to support and promote promising authors working in the field of contemporary photography. The annual exhibition of the finalists offers a unique insight into current developments within the photographic medium, while revealing the creative strength and conceptual breadth of a new generation of visual artists. Different Worlds thus once again provides a space for bringing together diverse photographic practices, perspectives and experiences, while offering an insight into the ways in which a new generation of artists from Central and Eastern Europe approaches the photographic medium.

The selection was made by an international expert jury comprising Judita Takáčová, director of the Central European House of Photography in Bratislava; David Kranzelbinder, artistic director of Pavelhaus (Pavlova hiša), a cultural centre for cross-border cooperation between Austria and Slovenia; and Sabina Salomon, curator and museum consultant for photography, new media, film and video at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka.

The group exhibition will feature projects by the ten finalists:

1st place – Sára Hecker, This Is All I Had Wished For
2nd place – Szebasztián Fehér, No Man’s Land / I Never Sleep
3rd place – Nika Jurković, Laboratorij: Avtorski prostori

Alina Tamilina, YOU
Ema Lančaričová, Images obscure the Clouds
Elizabeth Watson, In The Middle of a Triangle
Hana Selena Sokolovic, Dear Orchid
Samuel Alexander, Obrazy z Osvienčimu (Images…)
Tisa Protaprnik, Moss Be True
Zsuzsanna Ida Papp, Gestures of Caring

The exhibition Different Worlds 2026 will open on Wednesday, 21 October 2026, at the Photon Gallery in Ljubljana. It will be accompanied by a small exhibition catalogue. Following its presentation in Ljubljana, the exhibition will also tour other European cities and partner organisations involved in the project.

The main prize of the competition includes a solo exhibition at the Photon Gallery in Ljubljana or at P – Space for Photography in Maribor in 2027, with production support from the gallery, as well as the opportunity to stay for up to ten days at the Photon Artist Residency in Ptuj.