YAMAGIWA Juichi (Director, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature)

Osaka is currently hosting the "Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025" in collaboration with EXPO2025. Based on the concept of "social impact," over 100 artists and groups from 24 countries and regions are participating in exhibitions across Osaka and public art installations at 13 locations within the Expo site. This initiative recognizes the creative economy (industries based on intellectual property, such as culture and art, design, advertising, fashion, and software) as a core industry for the next generation. It is an ambitious, unprecedented endeavor that includes a business contest and support program for startups called "StARTs UPs," which also aims to create new jobs and businesses. I highly recommend you take a look at one of the venues.

Works from the Semba Excel Building special exhibition "Re: Human - The New Human Condition" Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver "La Dolce Vita / Virgo"

Art first appeared long before humans began to use words to understand the world. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that it existed before humans.
Not to mention peacock feathers, male mammals and birds have bright colors and shapes, such as lions' manes and gorillas' silvery backs. These have been selected by females as a way to show off the strength of healthy males who are not easily defeated by predators, even if they stand out. However, these are characteristics that cannot be removed. I believe that humans have created these characteristics as removable costumes, which has led to the creation of art.

The first distinctively human characteristic that humans acquired was walking upright on two legs. Walking upright must have been a way of asserting oneself, and the various stone tools that appeared afterwards eventually took on beautiful, symmetrical shapes. Some stone tools show no signs of use, and it is thought that these came to function as symbols.

Two million years ago, human brains began to grow larger than those of gorillas, and this is said to have occurred in sync with the expansion of population size. In other words, as our numbers increased and our range of activity expanded, our ability to imagine what was not there grew, and our desire to interpret the invisible world intensified. It is thought that the creation of art also reflects this desire for a parallel world.

Language appeared 70,000 to 100,000 years ago, sparking a major cognitive revolution. Weightless and portable, words can communicate things that are far away and unseen, or things that have already happened and cannot be experienced. However, because words are logical and abstract, they strip away much of the essence, and misunderstandings arise when we try to fill in the gaps with our imagination. Art, like words, has the function of communicating things and objects that are not present in the present moment, but because it communicates these things illogically through concrete representations, it can evoke surprise and awareness.

In other words, both art and words reveal a world in which we are absent and stimulate our imagination and creativity, but they are complementary forms of communication with different functions. Just as AI is evolving in the world of language, art is also experiencing remarkable development. Furthermore, a second Japonism, driven by contemporary art, is spreading around the world, and attention is being drawn to Asian art, particularly in Korea.

In fact, many up-and-coming Asian artists participated in "Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025." The art fair "Study × PLAS: Asia Art Fair," held in July as part of the festival, was co-hosted with the Korean gallery PLAS, and around 40 galleries from Korea visited Japan, bringing their excitement to Osaka.

Scenes from the art fair "Study × PLAS: Asia Art Fair"

Additionally, the exhibition "Cafe Atariya: Front and Back, Middle and Corner," curated by Production Zomia, is set in a row house in Nishinari, where artists from Myanmar, Vietnam, and Taiwan have come to create works on site, creating a unique space. Please come and experience this for yourself.

An exhibition by Myanmar artist Saul Chan Htoo Sang from "Cafe Atariya: Front and Back, Middle and Corner"