Unseen / Art Rotterdam 2026

Les Douches la Galerie | Art Rotterdam 2026

Ray K. Metzker Solo Show

Les Douches la Galerie is pleased to announce its first participation in Art Rotterdam, taking place from March 27 to 29, 2026 (preview on March 26).

Originally scheduled to take part in Unseen Amsterdam, the gallery now joins this new configuration following the merger between Unseen Amsterdam and Art Rotterdam. This inaugural joint edition will be held at Rotterdam Ahoy across 14,000 square meters of exhibition space.

On this occasion, the gallery will present a solo show dedicated to Ray K. Metzker (1931–2014), a major yet long under-recognized figure in 20th-century American photography.

We look forward to welcoming you to our booth within the The Past Present section, devoted to analog photography up to the year 2000, rediscovered archives, and artists who engage critically with the history of the medium. At a time when artificial intelligence is reshaping visual culture, this section underscores the enduring power of authentic images and vintage prints.

The solo presentation will focus on three essential dimensions of Metzker’s work:

-        Street Photography (Chicago and Europe)

-        Formal Experimentation, in which he deconstructs urban space through montage, fragmentation, and repetition

-        The City Whispers series, where the city becomes a luminous visual score

In contrast to an overly conventional humanist tradition, Metzker appropriated the city through a masterful interplay of vertical and horizontal lines, sculpting light with rare formal radicality. In autumn 2024, Les Douches la Galerie presented City Lux, an exhibition dedicated to Ray K. Metzker, at the Fondation A Stichting in Brussels, curated by its director Françoise Morin and Philippe Séclier.

This retrospective—the second in Europe after the Musée de l’Élysée in Lausanne in 2007—brought together more than one hundred black-and-white prints produced by the artist himself. The exhibition was accompanied by the publication of an English-language volume released by Ludion Editions, featuring approximately 150 photographs. Now nearly sold out, the book will soon be reissued.