For the first time, a Romanian art institution hosts a large-scale retrospective exhibition of a highly influential, internationally acclaimed artist.

We are thrilled to announce Roger Ballen at SCÂNTEIA+

Curated by Hercules Papaioannou and assisted by Horațiu Lipot, the exhibition brings together more than 85 works spanning over four decates of Ballen’s career.

Join us for the opening on March 26, 2026, starting at 6 PM for an unmissable event for the Romanian art scene.

📍 SCÂNTEIA+ | Bucharest | Casa Presei Libere

The retrospective exhibition ”Shadows of the Mind” brings for the first time in Romania the works of the internationally renowned South African-based photographer Roger Ballen. The exhibition at Scanteia+ will open on Thursday, March 26, at 6 p.m., in the presence of the artist and curator. A traveling exhibition, it has been presented in various other iterations in over 12 renowned institutions, including: Frans Hals Museum (Haarlem, 2005), Bibliotheque Nationale de France (Paris, 2006), Triennale Milano (2009), Bozar (Brussels, 2010), Museum of Modern Art (Istanbul, 2017), and most recently, in 2025 at the Benaki Museum in Athens. The exhibition held at Scanteia+ will open on Thursday, 26 March, at 6 PM in the presence of the artist and the curator. Curated by Hercules Papaioannou the exhibition is co-organized together with Studio Roger Ballen, and Scanteia+. ”Shadows of the Mind” will run until Thursday, 7 of May, 2026, and invites viewers to walk through several stages of Ballen’s renowned career. The retrospective exhibition brings together eight photographic series, from different stages in Rogers Ballen’s oeuvre, moving through the documentary style of his earlier works into the psychological theatre that became the stage for his works during the early 2000s, and arriving at a new era in the Ballenesque aesthetics, now in full color, by presenting his latest works, from the series Spirits and Spaces. ”[…] Ballen’s work evolved from a documentary style to a more abstract symbolic aesthetic. He views geology as a fundamental metaphor for his work, as the descent into the unknown depths of the earth into strata older than civilization, parallels the journey into the human psyche. His work opens the Pandora’s box of the human mind, releasing unprocessed raw emotions. He surrenders himself to the archetypal, the hidden, the place where the rational loses its dominance. […]

(fragments from Hercules Papaioannou exhibition text)

Roger Ballen
Born in 1950 in New York, where he grew up. His mother worked for Magnum Photos in New York, so early on he got to know the work of major photographers; André Kertész, a family friend, influenced him greatly. He studied psychology at Berkeley in the late ‘60s, when the West Coast was bursting with reactionary movements and manifestations of the counterculture. He was then influenced by the Theatre of the Absurd, cinema, literature, and the work of psychiatrist R.D. Laing. In the 1970s he 1traveled for years beyond the confines of Western civilization. In the late 1970s he embarked on a PhD in geology in Colorado. Aſter its completion in 1981, he bought a Rolleiflex, with which he photographed until 2015. From 1982, he began working as a geologist in Johannesburg, where he has since resided. He identifies Henri Cartier Bresson, André Kertész, Paul Strand, Diane Arbus, Ralph-Eugene Meatyard and Brassaï among his early photographic influences. More than 20 books have been published on his work. He has directed more than 10 videos and short films, including a video titled ”I Fink U Freeky” for the band Die Antwoord (co-directed by Ninja, 2012), with more than 200 million views on YouTube. He has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Art and Design by Kingston University, UK (2018) and has received major awards such as: Artist of the Year by Suddeutsche Zeitung Magazin (2014), Photographer of the Year at Rencontres d’ Arles (2002), Best photo book PHotoESPAÑA (Madrid, 2001), Artist of the Year at Photosynkyria (Thessaloniki 2000).

His work belongs to more than 60 collections of museums on all continents such as Center Georges Pompidou (Paris), George Eastman House (Rochester, USA), Getty Museum (Los Angeles), Maison Européenne de la Photographie (Paris), Musée de l’ Élysée (Lausanne), Museum of Fine Arts (Houston), Museum of Modern Art (New York), Pushkin Museum (Moscow), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), Tate Britain (London), Victoria and Albert Museum, (London). He is also the founder and executive director of the Inside Out Centre for the Arts and the Roger Ballen Centre for Photography in Johannesburg. The Centre aims to promote awareness of International and African related issues through art and educational programmes. In September 2025, Thames and Hudson released Spirits and Spaces, the first ever publication of Ballen’s work in colour.

Hercules Papaioannou (b. 1962, Thessaloniki) has studied Physics at the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki (1984), Photography at New York University (MΑ, 1992), and culminated his PhD in Photography at the School of Journalism and Mass Media (Auth, 2005). He works as a curator at MOMUS-Thessaloniki Museum of Photography since 1999, has been its former director (2016-2018), and co-organizer of the annual festival Photosynkyria between 1993-2006.

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