BOOK: O-Daniel Reuter & Umihara Chikara, Roma Publications

In the book “O”, artists Daniel Reuter and Umihara Chikara turn their cameras on Osaka, uncovering a city caught between its futuristic past and its lived present. Created during a residency in 2024, the book by Roma Publications, is the result of a month-long collaboration that brings together Reuter’s fascination with modernist architecture and Chikara’s local perspective. The project begins with Expo ’70, an event that once symbolized Osaka’s ambitions to stand at the forefront of global innovation. But rather than lingering solely on that historic site, the artists push outward—toward the city’s sprawling port, where artificial islands, elevated highways, and industrial landscapes tell a different story about progress. The photographs don’t present Osaka as a postcard-perfect city. Instead, they trace fragments: looping flyovers, fences marking invisible borders, and waterways that blur the edge between land and sea. The effect is a portrait of a metropolis in transition, where grand utopian visions rub up against the practical, sometimes messy realities of contemporary life. What makes “O” stand out is its dual perspective. Reuter and Chikara don’t merge their visions into one; instead, they let their approaches complement each other. The result feels like a dialogue, one that acknowledges the city’s layered identity—shaped as much by human ambition as by its physical and geographic constraints. At times, the work risks feeling elusive, especially for viewers unfamiliar with Osaka’s history. But that ambiguity is also part of its strength. Rather than offering definitive answers, “O” invites us to look more closely at the spaces we might otherwise pass by: the thresholds, infrastructures, and overlooked corners that quietly define a city.-Dimitris Lempesis