~The International Art Festival of Contemporary Art, which will be held at various locations in Osaka, including the National Museum of Ethnology (built by KUROKAWA Kisho) in the Expo '70 Commemorative Park, which hosted the Expo '70~

Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival Executive Committee (Head Office: Osaka, CEO: Daisuke Suzuki, ARTLOGUE, Inc.) announces the latest information on Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025.

 

This art festival is an international festival of contemporary art to be held from April 11 (Friday)* to October 13 (Monday), 2025. During the Osaka-Kansai Expo, the Expo site in Yumeshima, the Osaka Cultural Hall and Tempozan designed by Tadao Ando, the Osaka Prefectural International Convention Center (Nakanoshima) designed by Kisho Kurokawa, as well as the Nishinari and Semba areas, and the National Museum of Ethnology in the Expo '70 Commemorative Park (also designed by Kisho Kurokawa) will be newly added venues to represent Osaka.

 

In 2025, the fourth edition of the festival will be held as an international arts festival that will serve as a link between the Osaka-Kansai Expo and the entire Osaka area, and will be implemented as an “arts festival to study the relationship between art, people, and society” through domestic and international art projects. This year's festival will be held under the theme of “Social Impact,” which refers to culture and art, economic revitalization, and the manifestation of social issues, and will feature exhibitions organized into six chapters at each venue.

Click here for the ticket page for "Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025"

*Please note that tickets for this art festival do not allow admission to the Osaka-Kansai Expo.

 

 

■ Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025 Concept

Social Impact

It is said that art helps people acquire “creativity” to open up the future and “imagination” to care for people and society. The ripple effects that art can have on cities, both in Japan and abroad, are too numerous to mention. It is extremely important to utilize the power of art not only in Osaka-Kansai, but also as a key element of Japan's growth strategy in order to create a better future society. We believe that the simultaneous holding of the Osaka-Kansai Expo and the Osaka-Kansai International Art Festival in 2025 will provide an opportunity to move global civilization into a new phase.

 

We have begun the new challenge of holding an international art festival that will be a sustainable form in a society with a declining population. We have held three small-scale pre-festival events as studies (experiments and research) since 2022, and we aim to make the 4th International Art Festival, the main festival, not just a transient event, but a cultural and artistic event that will take root as an urban attraction and be passed on and developed as a growth strategy.

 

We see this year's festival as a starting point, not a goal, with the goal of eventually establishing an “International City of Arts Osaka” and a “Kansai Art Region” in the wider region, where art and creativity overflow into daily life in Osaka and the Kansai region, creating jobs and employment, and attracting artists, creators and cultural art workers to settle and develop in the region. Just as OKAMOTO Taro's Tower of the Sun at Expo '70 Osaka remains in people's memories as a symbolic work of art of the era, at Expo '70, through Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025, we will communicate new artistic values to the world with an eye on the next era.

 

*For more information on participating artists, please see the press release issued on the same day :  "Over 50 Artists from 18 Countries, and 4 Curators Announced."

 

■ Chapter 1: Invitation to a Diverse World

Venue: “Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival / EXPO PUBLIC ART” in Expo '2025 Japan International Exposition (Osaka/Kansai Expo) Future Society Showcase Project Art Expo Public Art

Courtesy of Japan Association for the International Exposition, 2025

In order to maximize the impact of the Expo on the future of Osaka and the Kansai region, Study : Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025 will hold Study : Osaka Kansai International Art Festival / EXPO PUBLIC ART, an exhibition of public artworks created by artists at various locations within the Expo site. In addition to adding cultural color and enrichment to visitors, we will attract and introduce works of art from around the world throughout the Expo site, which is themed “Designing a Future Society that Shines with Life,” in an attempt to promote dialogue and exchange among visitors through art.

 

■ Chapter 2: Considerations for People and Life

Venue: Osaka Culturarium, Tempozan and Tempozan (former Suntory Museum), designed by ANDO Tadao

The Osaka Culturarium, Tempozan (formerly Suntory Museum) was designed by architect ANDO Tadao as an art museum and completed in 1994. With Osaka Bay in the background, the exterior of the museum looks impressive against the blue sky. The facility is used both domestically and internationally as a base for diverse culture and is involved in a variety of activities. In this venue, the “Reshaped Reality” exhibition will be held in collaboration with a German research institute, questioning what it means to be human.

 

■ Chapter 3: The Relationship between the City and Art

Venue: Osaka Kita area

Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival Vol.3 Exhibition Artist: Shiino Mirin x Tanaka, Harumaki Gohan, Furokuro, Sekai x x0o0x
Curator: Yoji Sakuma "Augmented Music"
Photo: HARUKI Yoshiumi

In the previous edition of the festival, “Expanded Music / Augmented Music” curated by SAKUMA Yoji, director of the Osaka Pavilion at Osaka Expo, was held and received a great response from a wide range of visitors.

 

In 2025, curator SAKUMA Yoji will present “Thought-provoking Music / New Storytelling.”

 

Chapter 4: Possibilities of Art in a Changing City

Venue: Nishinari area

Kamagasaki (Nishinari area), once a place where laborers gathered to engage in physical labor during the period of high economic growth, has recently been facing various social issues such as an aging population, an increase in the number of foreign residents, or rising land prices due to real estate investment. Since its launch in 2022, this art festival has focused on art practices in the Nishinari area.

The festival will continue to collaborate with Cocoroom, Kamagasaki University of Arts, and the fashion brand NISHINARI YOSHIO, which operates from the Kioku Shugei-Kan “Tansu”. In addition, the “Sanno Harmonica Nagaya”, a 100 year old building that has undergone repeated additions and renovations in the Showa period and is currently undergoing a revival, will be added as a venue for the “Cafe Atariya” exhibition by curator and Production Zomia, creating a new place for encounters and creativity.

 

■ Chapter 5: East, West, North, South, and South - A City at the Crossroads of Cultures

Venue: Semba area

In the Semba area, curator KISHIMOTO Mitsuhiro will hold the exhibition “Re: Human - The New Human Condition”.

 

■ Chapter 6: Creative Economy and the Future of the Earth Venue: Osaka International Convention Center (Grand Cube Osaka) designed by KUROKAWA Kisho

 

In commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea, the international art fair “Study × PLAS : Asia Art Fair” will be co-hosted by Plastic Art Seoul (commonly known as PLAS), a contemporary art fair established in South Korea in 2016, and ARTLOGUE, Inc.

 

Study × PLAS: Asia Arts Fair” is a comprehensive art and creative fair to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea, and to build future-oriented relationships in the arts and culture between Japan and South Korea and the Asian region. The Osaka International Convention Center, designed by architect Kisho Kurokawa, will be the stage for visitors to view, experience, and purchase a wide variety of art works. This art fair is subsidized by the Korean government.

*Korean actor and artist Ha Ji-won will also be exhibiting her artwork at the special exhibition (photo)

Fair Director: Jun-Won Shin

 

In addition, “StARTs UPs,” a business contest for startups in the creative economy, and “Study Meeting,” a symposium, will be held at the same venue, which will be spread over several floors. For more information on "StARTs UPs," please click here.

 

Other venues: National Museum of Ethnology (in Expo '70 Commemorative Park)

The National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku) was founded in 1974 as an inter-university institution of cultural anthropology, ethnology, and related fields, and opened in 1977 on the site of Expo '70 in Senri, Osaka. Architect Kisho Kurokawa designed the building, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2024. The main venue in the Expo Commemorative Park, where Taro Okamoto's Tower of the Sun is located, will be a symbolic place that connects the 1970 Osaka Expo with the 2025 Main Art Festival and the Osaka-Kansai Expo across the ages.

 

List of participating artists (50+ people, 18 countries) *As of February 19, 2025

For participating artists, please also see the following list from the same day release, “More than 50 artists, 18 countries and 5 curators announced.”

 

Allen Jones, Aung Myat Htay, Tomoaki Ishihara, Walter Cazotte, Wu Chi-Yu, Evan Penny, Akito Okunaka, Kazu Hiro, Kamagasaki University of the Arts, Karakuri Hakase, Teppei Kaneuji, Satoshi Kawata, Kim Gemini, Carole A. Feuerman, Kin Sajik, Glaser/Kuntz, Sam Jinks, Jamie Salmon, Jacques Verduin, Jarko Baszeski, Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver, George Segal, John De Andrea, Saul Chan Htoo Sang, Shuntaro Tanikawa, Daniel Furman, DONECY, Tuan Mami, Duane Hanson, New ImmigrationsB, Tony Matelli, Atsuya Tominaga, Tom Kübler, Non, Yoshinori Nishinar, Hata Yoshio, Ha Ji-won, Patricia Piccinini, Fabio Viale, Brian Booth Craig, HERALBONY, Berlinde de Bruyckere, Marc Sijan, Maurizio Cattelan, Mathilde ter Heijne, Mel Ramos, Yasumasa Morimura + Noriyuki Sakashita, Momoko Yoshida, Robert Graham, Ron Mueck (as of February 19, 2025)

 

■ Overview of "Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025"

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・Official website and social media

Study: Osaka Kansai International Arts Festival 2025 Official Website: https://osaka-kansai.art/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/study_okiaf/
X (ex. Twitter): https://x.com/study_OKIAF
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StudyOKIAF/
Official LINE account: https://lin.ee/YRCAlUD

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■Company Profile

ARTLOGUE Inc.
Representative: SUZUKI Daisuke (CEO and Representative Director, ARTLOGUE Inc.) Head office: Kita-ku, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture Date of establishment: July 7, 2017 Business description: Planning and operation of “Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival” / Planning and operation of WEB media “ARTLOGUE”, “Art Tourism”, etc.

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■ Contact Information

Artlogue Inc. Public Relations Office Name: Tomimatsu & Ichikawa Email address: study-pr@artlogue.org
Inquiry form: https://osaka-kansai.art/pages/contact