“It’s always been my goal to create a dedicated space for photography in South Africa. I founded the Roger Ballen Foundation almost 20 years ago to support local photographers, but the missing piece was always a venue. With this Centre, I hope to provide a platform for powerful photographic voices, both African and international, and to engage the public in a deeper reflection on image-making today.”— Roger Ballen
The Centre launches with PSYCHOPOMP! — a provocative new exhibition curated by Berlin-based artist and theorist Boris Eldagsen, realised with the support of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF), that explores the evolving role of AI-generated images as a mirror to the unconscious mind.
Eldagsen is an award-winning photomedia artist and philosopher whose practice blends photography, painting, theatre, and film to delve into the hidden corners of the psyche. His career spans major exhibitions and festivals across Europe, Asia, and Australia, and he is internationally recognised for igniting a global debate on AI and art when he declined the 2023 Sony World Photography Award for an AI-generated image.
Opening Events
Public Opening: Wednesday, 03 September 2025
Opening Hours: Monday–Friday: 10:00–16:00, Saturday: 09:00–12:00
Featured Public Programmes:
- 03 September: 11:00 – Educational lecture: Ethics of AI in Art (Boris Eldagsen)
- 03 September: 18:00 – Public lecture: Ethics of AI in Art (Boris Eldagsen)
- 04 September: 11:00 & 14:00 – Educational lecture: AI & Creativity (Boris Eldagsen)
- 05 September: 11:00 – Educational Lecture: The Future of Artistic Process(Boris Eldagsen)
- 06 September: 10:00 Open day artist walkabout | 13:00 AI & Creativity (Boris Eldagsen)
Debut Exhibition: PSYCHOPOMP!
PSYCHOPOMP!, the Centre’s inaugural exhibition curated by Boris Eldagsen, brings together artists from around the world who explore AI as a tool for self-exploration rather than spectacle. In Eldagsen’s view, the exhibition draws on Jungian psychology to examine the “shadow” — those hidden aspects of the self we often deny. Featuring over 20 artists including Arminda da Silva (SA), Ian Haig (Australia), Rosemberg (Spain), Infrarouge (France), and Crudguts (Brazil), the show uses surreal, uncanny and often unsettling imagery to challenge perceptions of both photography and identity.
“The artists in PSYCHOPOMP! don’t ask AI for answers. They use it to interrogate their fears, their shame, their psychic leftovers. What you see is what the machine sees in them—and, maybe, in you too.”— Boris Eldagsen, Curator
In his own words, Ballen describes AI as an expanding frontier:“AI is transforming photography and many other fields, raising urgent creative and ethical questions. That’s why we’re launching with this show. We want to confront these issues head-on—and set a tone of relevance and reflection from the start.”
A New Centre for a Changing Medium
The Roger Ballen Centre for Photography is the latest initiative of the Inside Out Foundation, a non-profit organisation established to support cultural and educational projects in South Africa. It stands alongside its partner institution, the Inside Out Centre for the Arts, with which it shares a mission to spark public engagement through the image. While the Inside Out Centre continues to host multidisciplinary exhibitions like End of The Game, along with music, poetry, lectures and film, the new Photography Centre offers a dedicated space focused solely on photography — expanding the Foundation’s vision with an emphasis on both local and international image-making.
“Art is not just a form of expression — it’s a mirror to the times. This Centre exists to ask questions, raise standards, and grow new audiences for photography and the visual arts in South Africa and beyond.” — Roger Ballen
Coming Next: October 2025
Opening on 20 October 2025, the next exhibition at the Roger Ballen Centre for Photography coincides with the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) Conference, taking place at the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, our neighbouring cultural institution. The accompanying exhibition will spotlight global photographic responses to genocide and historical trauma. Featured artists include Marcelo Brodsky, Linda Paganelli, and Amy Fagin. Alongside this powerful group show, visitors will also experience Roger Ballen’s new body of colour work, drawn from his latest monograph by Thames & Hudson entitled Spirits and Spaces that will be launched at the centre for the opening of the exhibition. Curated by Marguerite Rossouw, Roger Ballen’s Artistic Director, the exhibition explores visual expressions of chaos, memory, and the afterlife.
Contact & Visit
Roger Ballen Centre for Photography
2 Duncombe Road, Forest Town, Johannesburg
+27 87 700 5998
insideoutfoundation.co.za
Follow: @rogerballencentre
Admission
General admission to the Roger Ballen Centre for Photography is R50. A combined ticket granting access to both the Photography Centre and the Inside Out Centre for the Arts is available for R150. Entry is free to the public on Saturday, 6 September 2025.
Press release courtesy of Roger Ballen
