ADF (NPO Aoyama Design Forum) is pleased to present “TOKYO URBAN PORTRAITS,” the 38th exhibition of the ADF Art Gallery Project by Nicola Maniero. The exhibition will be held from 2 to 13 March 2026 at GARDE Gallery in Omotesando, Tokyo.
Urban Portraits is a photographic exhibition that explores the contemporary city through the faces of those who inhabit it. Rather than focusing on architecture, infrastructure, or iconic landmarks, the exhibition shifts attention to human presence within public space. The city is not described directly; instead, it is inferred through expressions, gestures, and fleeting encounters that reveal the psychological and emotional conditions shaped by dense metropolitan life.

The portraits presented in the exhibition result from chance encounters in streets, stations, and transitional spaces. They capture individuals at moments when attention drifts, defenses lower, or inner states briefly surface. These are not portraits intended to define identity or narrate personal histories. Instead, they function as fragments—partial, unresolved, and open—reflecting the instability and ambiguity that characterize contemporary urban existence.

By excluding explicit contextual information, Urban Portraits resists the traditional documentary impulse to explain or locate. The surrounding city remains largely invisible, reduced to traces of light, texture, or atmosphere. This deliberate absence shifts the focus to the face as a site where the pressures of urban life accumulate: fatigue, solitude, resilience, vulnerability, and quiet resistance coexist within a single frame. Each image becomes a threshold between interior and exterior, private and public.

The exhibition rejects spectacular or iconic representations of the city. Instead, it proposes an alternative reading of urban space grounded in proximity and encounter. The portraits emerge from unplanned situations, shaped by the photographer’s physical presence and the unpredictable dynamics of public space. This method acknowledges the ethical tension inherent in street photography, emphasizing uncertainty rather than control, and presence rather than possession.

Seen collectively, the portraits form a composite image of the city itself. The exhibition does not present a linear narrative, but rather a constellation of moments that echo one another through posture, gaze, and emotional tone. Repetition and variation generate rhythm, suggesting a shared condition rather than individual stories. The city appears not as a fixed environment, but as a mutable field of relationships continuously produced by those who pass through it.

Ultimately, the exhibition proposes a slowed-down form of observation. In a context dominated by speed, consumption, and visual overload, Urban Portraits invites viewers to pause and confront the presence of others. It suggests that the city can be understood not through monuments or skylines, but through fragile, transient, and deeply human moments unfolding every day.

Nicola Maniero

Nicola Maniero is an Italian architect and photographer based in Tokyo. He graduated in Architecture from IUAV University of Venice, where he developed an early interest in the relationship between space, perception, and everyday life. Since 2010, he has been part of Kengo Kuma & Associates, where he is currently a Partner, working on cultural, infrastructural, and urban projects across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

His architectural practice is characterized by strong sensitivity to context, materiality, and public space. Over the years, he has been involved in complex international projects that explore architecture as a mediator between landscape, social use, and collective experience. This background has deeply influenced his approach to photography, which he considers an extension of architectural thinking rather than a separate discipline.

Alongside his professional activity as an architect, Maniero has developed an independent photographic research practice focused on the contemporary city. His work investigates urban life at a human scale, paying particular attention to marginal situations, everyday gestures, and moments that escape planned representation. Rather than depicting architecture as an object, his photography explores how built environments are inhabited, perceived, and emotionally experienced.

ADF Art Gallery Project Nicola Maniero Solo Exhibition “TOKYO URBAN PORTRAITS”
Dates: 2 to 13 March, 2026
Time: 11:00–18:00
Venue: GARDE Gallery
Closed: Sundays
URL: https://www.art-adf.jp/?sl=en