Silent Speech: Masato Seto × Zou Lei Dialogue Exhibition
The Silent Speech dialogue exhibition, organized by SANS Lab (Sansei Group) and supported by the Consulate-General of Japan in Shenyang, will open at 3:00 PM on September 30 at D.FOTO Art Space in Dalian. The exhibition will feature a comprehensive display of Japanese photographer Masato Seto’s signature series Silent Mode, spanning thirty years, alongside German-trained artist Zou Lei’s video installation project Silent Speech. The practices of these two artists, crossing photography and installation, engage in an in-depth dialogue across different media and modes of viewing. Both artists will be present at the Dalian exhibition, conducting a series of related events and face-to-face interactions with visitors from October 1 to 4.
Artist:
Masato Seto, Zou Lei
Curator:
Zhao Lei
Exhibition Organizer:
Li Xiaohui, Chen Yifei
Organizer:
SANS Lab
Co-organizer:
Dalian D.FOTO Art Space
Official Support:
Consulate-General of Japan in Shenyang
Partner Institutions:
KOMOMOKA、IMA Haus Tokyo
An in-depth dialogue on “viewing”: Two sections, a collision of thirty years and the present
When we stand before a photograph, what are we really “seeing”? Is it the people, objects, or scenes within the frame, or the very act of viewing itself? The exhibition, guided by the theme “How silent images speak,” is divided into two interrelated sections—one connecting to the photographer’s artistic journey, the other leading into the photographer’s perspective through the art itself.
Silent Mode: Masato Seto’s Thirty-Year “Evolution of Viewing”
Masato Seto is a prominent figure in Japanese photography—he studied under Daido Moriyama, served as an assistant to Masahisa Fukase, and currently succeeds Eikoh Hosoe as director of the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts. He has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Kimura Ihei Photography Award. His Silent Mode series, spanning thirty years, represents a personal evolution in the “power of viewing.” Beginning in 1995 with his “covert snapshots” on Tokyo trains, Seto explored power dynamics within imagery. His early work’s unidirectional gaze revealed the anonymity and alienation of urban life; more than twenty years later, he introduced “informed co-presence” of the subjects in his studio, transforming the one-way capture into a mutual agreement, with photographs serving as a medium to ethically restructure the act of viewing. Today, Silent Mode enters the Chinese context, with this cross-cultural portrait experiment extending the thirty-year history of Seto’s exploration of seeing.
Silent Speech: Zou Lei’s “Reconstruction of the Viewing Mechanism”
Zou Lei takes Masato Seto’s Silent Mode as a starting point and explores it through generative art and interactive installations—both responding to the present and connecting to the future. On one hand, he uses generative techniques to extend the expressive logic of Silent Mode to create “portraits of the future,” blurring the boundaries of identity and time, presenting faces that feel both familiar and strange. These works not only engage with contemporary imaging technologies but also suggest the possibility that “the future already exists in the present.” On the other hand, he transforms the exhibition space into a “real-time image theater”: visitors’ faces are captured by cameras and projected onto screens, mirrors, or empty frames. As you enter the gallery, you are no longer just a viewer—you also become the viewed. In this setting, images are no longer fixed results but continuously generated relationships; visitors are no longer merely observers but part of the exhibition itself. Viewing here becomes open and fluid, full of new possibilities.
Concurrent Events
During the exhibition, Masato Seto will engage in site-specific creation in Dalian—recording the city’s “silent expressions” in his own style. At the same time, both artists will hold workshops, academic talks, and study sessions, sharing the experiences and joys behind their creative processes, from artistic ethics and the philosophy of viewing to practical art-making. Standing before Seto’s 1995 Tokyo train photographs and then entering Zou Lei’s interactive installation, one may realize that photographs are never truly silent—they convey the photographer’s perspective, the subject’s state, and, importantly, your gaze as the viewer.
Artist
Masato Seto
Photographer / Director of the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts, Japan
Biography
1953: Born in Udon Thani, Thailand
1961: Moved to Yanagawa Town, Date City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan
1975: Graduated from Tokyo Visual Arts
1976: Attended Daido Moriyama’s photography workshop
1979: Served as assistant to Masahisa Fukase
1981: Became a freelance photographer
1987: Founded the independent photography gallery
2024: Appointed Director of the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts, Japan (succeeding founding director Eikoh Hosoe)
Awards and Honors
1989: *Bangkok/Hanoi* – Newcomer Award, Japan Photographic Society
1995: *Living Room, Tokyo* – Newcomer Photographer Award, Higashikawa Awards
1996: *Living Room, Tokyo* – 8th Photography Society Award
1996: *Silent Mode* & *Living Room, Tokyo* – 21st Kimura Ihei Photography Award
1999: Autobiographical Essay *Tooi to Masato* – 12th Shincho Gakugei Award
2008: *binran* – Annual Award, Japan Photographic Society
2021: 37th Higashikawa Awards – Domestic Photographer Award
Major Photobooks / Publications
1989: *Bangkok/Hanoi* (IPC)
1995: *Silent Mode* (Mole)
1995: *Living Room, Tokyo* (Shinchosha)
1998: *Tooi to Masato* (Asahi Shimbun)
2006: *picnic* (Place M)
2008: *binran* (Little More)
2013: *Cesium-137Cs-* (Place M)
2020: *Masahisa Fukase: A Biography* (Nippon Camera)
2020: *Masato Seto: Map of Memories* Exhibition Catalog (Nippon Camera)
Major Exhibitions
1983: *Bangkok, 1983* (Ginza Nikon Salon)
1984: *Street* (Shinjuku Nikon Salon)
1995: Participated in the Opening Commemorative Exhibition *Photography City Tokyo* at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
1996: *Living Room, Tokyo* (Konica Plaza, Tokyo)
1996: *Muang HANOI* (Polaroid Gallery, Tokyo)
2006: Invited by the Japan Foundation to participate in an international traveling exhibition
2008: *binran* (Ginza Nikon Salon)
2013: *Cesium/Cs-137* (Ginza Nikon Salon)
2015: *Seto Family 1941–2015: Bangkok, Hanoi, Fukushima* (Shinjuku Nikon Salon)
2020: *Map of Memories* (Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography)
Collections
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography: *Bangkok/Hanoi*, *Living Room, Tokyo*
Kawasaki City Museum: *Living Room, Tokyo*, *Silent Mode*
Getty Museum (Los Angeles): *picnic*
Elton John Collection: *Living Room, Tokyo*, *picnic*, *binran*
Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art: *Living Room, Tokyo*
Artist
Zou Lei
Independent Curator / Lecturer at Dalian University of Technology
Biography
Graduated from the University of Kassel, Germany, with a Master of Fine Arts (MFA). Since 2009, he has been teaching at the School of Architecture and Art, Dalian University of Technology. He currently works and lives in both Dalian and Tokyo. His research and creative practice focus on contemporary imagery and visual culture, actively engaging in contemporary art creation, curatorial projects, and art education.
Recent Practices in Visual and Media Arts
2008: Solo exhibition *Shaped Kanji* in Kassel, Germany
2018: Co-curated the exhibition *Flower Life・Grass Overgrown* with Motoo Hisako — featuring Nobuyoshi Araki and the Art Education Group
2021: Independently curated the exhibition *Extraordinary Everyday — Original Works of Japanese Photography* (Hangzhou Yuanbai), featuring artists including Eikoh Hosoe, Masahisa Fukase, Daido Moriyama, Kazumasa Uda, and Masato Seto
2022: Solo exhibition *Personal History* at Place M, Tokyo
2025: Curated the exhibition *Extraordinary Everyday — The Visual Theater of Japanese Photography Masters* (Dalian D.FOTO)
Curator
Zhao Lei
Independent Curator
Education
EMBA; International Media Management, Sweden (SR); Fashion and Brand Management, France (IFM). Since 2006, he has been working in the field of fashion and art, currently based in Europe and Japan. In recent years, he has focused on curating and practicing light and shadow art, providing a platform for artists in the field, especially emerging talents, to create and exchange ideas.
Recent Artistic Practices
March 2019: Founded ARTEC Art Energy Camp
September 2019: Curated the large-scale outdoor experiential art project *Light Field* in collaboration with the Department of Lighting Environment Design, Communication University of China (Jinshan Lake, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu)
September 2019: Curated the glass and ceramic exhibition *Tracing the Wind* by young sculptor Chen Hesheng, University of Washington School of Art, USA
September 2019 – January 2020: Curated *Surreal Time Dreams in the Subconscious* by Salvador Dalí (Red Plum Art Center, Shenyang)
October 2020: In collaboration with the Amedeo Modigliani Foundation (Italy), curated *Ohki Oh Occhio* — a secondary art creation exhibition commemorating the 100th anniversary of Amedeo Modigliani
2021: Participated as a Sans Lab member in the exhibition *Extraordinary Everyday — Original Works of Japanese Photography* (Hangzhou Yuanbai), featuring artists including Eikoh Hosoe, Masahisa Fukase, Daido Moriyama, Kazumasa Uda, and Masato Seto
2021: PBL collaborative mentor at the School of Future Design, Beijing Normal University