~ Mariko Mori, Teppei Kaneuji, Rintaro Hashiguchi, Kazuhiko Hikawa and others will be participating in this international contemporary art festival linking the Expo site with the greater Osaka area ~

The Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival Executive Committee (within ARTLOGUE Co., Ltd.) will be holding "Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival / EXPO PUBLIC ART" as part of the "Public Art" category, one of the "Art Expo" projects under the "Future Society Showcase Project" run by the Japan Association for the 2025 Exposition, as part of the official program of the "Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025." We are pleased to announce the participating artists for "Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival / EXPO PUBLIC ART."

This program will exhibit public art (outdoor sculptures, murals, and murals) by artists primarily from the Kansai region at various locations within the Osaka-Kansai Expo site over a period of 184 days from Sunday, April 13, 2025 to Monday, October 13, 2025. A total of 13 groups, including Mariko Mori, Teppei Kaneuji, Rintaro Hashiguchi, and Kazuhiko Hikawa, will attempt to encourage dialogue and interaction among visitors through art.

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

 

 

This art festival is an international contemporary art festival that will be held from Friday, April 11th to Monday, October 13th, 2025. During the Osaka-Kansai Expo, the festival will be held in various locations symbolizing Osaka, including the Expo site in Yumeshima, Osaka Culturarium Tempozan designed by Tadao Ando, ​​Osaka Prefectural International Conference Center (Nakanoshima) designed by Kisho Kurokawa, the Nishinari-Senba area, and the National Museum of Ethnology (built by Kisho Kurokawa) in Expo Commemoration Park, where the 1970 Expo was held.

The fourth festival in 2025 will be held as an international art festival that will play a role in connecting the Osaka-Kansai Expo with the Osaka area, and will be held as an art festival that studies the relationship between art, people, and society through domestic and international art projects. This year's theme is "social impact," which means culture and art, economic revitalization, and the manifestation of social issues, and each venue will have an exhibition composed of six chapters.

This year's event will be themed on "social impact," which refers to the revitalization of culture and the arts, as well as the bringing to light of social issues. As of April 2, 2025, a total of more than 57 groups of curators from 18 countries and five groups will participate. For details, please see the "List of Participating Artists."
For an overview of the art festival and the concepts of each venue, please see the press release below.

［2025.2.19 Press Release］
"Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025 to be held at the same time as the Osaka Kansai Expo! Latest information on the concept and exhibition details of each venue announced"

 

■ List of works and artists for "Study: Osaka Kansai International Arts Festival / EXPO PUBLIC ART"

[Venue: 2025 World Expo, Japan (Osaka-Kansai Expo) Future Society Showcase Project Art Expo Public Art "Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival / EXPO PUBLIC ART"]

*The images posted below are not actual EXPO PUBLIC ART works, but reference materials (past works and profile images).

OKUNAKA Akihito

Artist. Born in Kyoto Prefecture in 1981, he lives there. Co-representative of Aoi Oa/AO Institute of Arts. Organizer of the Hands-on Art Course at Kizugawa City Yamashiro Cultural Center. After graduating from the Faculty of Education at Shizuoka University, Okunaka taught art play at the Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art and a social welfare facility for the intellectually disabled, before studying modern and contemporary thought and becoming an artist. He received domestic and international grants and underwent long-term training at AIR programs in France, Korea, and China. He has honed his skills in regional art in various regions, and is an artist who creates experiential large-scale works and develops workshops together with local citizens. 2024/WHAT MUSEUM "Okunaka Akito "Synesthesia - The Five Senses Interact Through Art" Exhibition, 2023/Gifu Art Festival, Land of Clear Streams Art Award IN THE CUBE "Double winner of the Kitamura Akiko Award and Terauchi Yoko Award"

 

KANEUJI Teppei

Born in 1978, artist and sculptor. Associate professor in the Sculpture Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Kyoto City University of Arts. He creates works using a collage-like technique that reinterprets existing contexts by cutting out and joining together parts of everyday objects. He has held solo exhibitions at the Yokohama Museum of Art (2009), the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (Beijing, 2013), and the Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art (2016), among others, and has also presented his works at special exhibitions and international exhibitions both in Japan and abroad. Since 2011, he has also worked on multiple stage sets, and in recent years has produced stage works. He has received the Kyoto City New Artist Award in 2012, the Kyoto Prefecture Cultural Award Encouragement Award in 2015, and the 29th Takashimaya Cultural Fund in 2018.

 

COOK

An artist who expresses his own unique worldview through a story-like style using characters based on graffiti. He started his career as a graffiti writer in the 90s, then traveled to LA alone to hone his skills. After returning to Japan, he continued his artistic activities based in his hometown of Osaka, while also gaining support from a wide range of genres, including apparel brands, music, and anime, going beyond the boundaries of street art. He is highly regarded not only in Japan, but also in the United States, where his work originates.

 

SceNE Project, RIHN

The SceNE project is a transdisciplinary project of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN). Based on high-resolution environmental reconstruction using coral tree rings, the project aims to create a local community that is resilient to environmental change by fusing natural and human memories through art. Based on Kikaijima, Kagoshima Prefecture, scientists, artists, and local residents are working together to reevaluate indigenous knowledge and create new collective knowledge for the future. By treating global environmental issues as their own problem, the project promotes empathy and dialogue for voluntary problem solving.

 

TAZAKI Asuka (HERALBONY Co., Ltd.)

Born in 1981 in Saitama, Japan, now residing in Rikuzentakata. He began painting at the encouragement of his father. The Great East Japan Earthquake claimed his home and nearly 200 of his artworks. The loss of loved ones also left his deeply shaken, leading his to step away from creating art for a time. However, as she confronted the changing landscape of the city, he found her way back to painting.
Regarding the vivid colors in The Path Through the Forest – Blue Forest, Tasaki reflects, "Color is something the heart listens to." Much like the cedar grove in MIYAZAWA Kenji’s Kenju Park Forest, his work evokes the sensation of a fresh, cool breeze rushing through the deep green of towering trees.

 

DONECY

Masked artist DONECY creates works that shake up the very foundations of the act of "seeing," dismantling and reconstructing the boundaries between vision and perception. At the Osaka Expo 2025, he will present his first public art piece and first three-dimensional work, "Where I Vanish." His figure can be seen clearly from afar, but as you get closer, your eyes are drawn to his own reflection in the mirror, and the sculpture itself disappears. The simple, one-stroke form embodies the contradictions of "seeing," inviting the viewer into the void between presence and absence. DONECY's works affect not the viewer's point of view, but the viewer's "unconscious." The moment you try to look at it, it is already gone.

 

TOMINAGA Atsuya

Born in Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture in 1961. Graduated from Kanazawa College of Art in 1986. Started creating art at Nose Black Granite Quarry (Toyono District, Osaka Prefecture). In 1997, he received a grant from the Pola Art Foundation for overseas training and stayed in Italy, creating art (until 1998). In 2013, he began his Love Stone Project around the world. He won the grand prize at the 25th UBE Biennale (Contemporary Japanese Sculpture Exhibition) and has held solo exhibitions both in Japan and abroad. From 2021, the Love Stone Project-Nagano will be held at the Nagano Prefectural Museum of Art. At the Osaka-Kansai Expo site, stones from five continents will be carved into heart shapes and polished together with people from around the world during the Expo.

 

NAKAJIMA Mugi

Artist. Born in 1978 and raised in northern Osaka Prefecture. Based in Osaka/Kyoto. Graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts, majoring in oil painting.
He is currently focusing on creating abstract paintings, while incorporating new events that expand upon them.
Through these activities, I hope to be a medium that is free from everything and connects everything.
He explores the basic elements of painting - movement, depth, and light - and in recent years has been producing works that add the flow of time as matter flows due to gravity.
Numerous exhibitions include solo exhibitions, special exhibitions, art fairs, collaborations, and events.

 

BAKIBAKI

Born in Osaka in 1978. In 2001, he began working as "DOPPEL" while studying at Kyoto City University of Arts. Inspired by Japanese subculture, his "BAKI pattern" is a modern take on traditional patterns, aiming to be a representative Japanese pattern of the 21st century. With roots in live painting (modern seat painting) at music venues such as clubs and festivals, he is currently focusing on exterior murals and public art for buildings, and is active both domestically and internationally. In 2021, he launched the mural project "Yodo Wall" centered on Juso, Osaka, and is contributing to regional revitalization and international cultural exchange in preparation for the 2025 Osaka Expo.

 

HASHIGUCHI Lintalow

Born in 1985, he started calligraphy in 2004. He was greatly influenced by punk rock and the postwar avant-garde art movement, and the calligrapher Yuichi Inoue's idea that "calligraphy is an art for everyone" is the basis of his expression. He writes down words that come to his mind every day in a notebook, and from around 2016 he started writing short English phrases and coined words like song titles. He understands the alphabet as "something that is broken down into phonemes and then disappears into speech," and his expressions are like masses made by letters colliding with each other, but behind them lies the ancient Japanese view of space and language. His style of writing is reminiscent of punk, which is written with a towel. While facing letters that seem to have jumped out of the paint soaked in the towel, he came to the idea of ​​"letters as living things born from paint." He looks at the "power that letters have to create empathy among people across time" and approaches calligraphy from the perspective of "signs and humanity."

 

HIWA Kazuhiko

Born in Osaka Prefecture. His first line of work is video works and performances themed on physicality, as well as the "HIWADROME" series of installation pieces using the wheelchair he himself uses to get around. He also produces "walkingpractice™", which considers and proposes mobility and accessibility through travel, workshops and intervention in architecture, "TRAIL by walkingpractice™", a road recording project using a wheelchair knitting machine, and noise sound gigs using an "Electric wheelchair sound generator".

 

MIYAKE Mai

An artist who continues to question the essence of things and the universality of expression based on Japanese culture and Eastern philosophy. His timeless works, which are both innovative and nostalgic, have a consistent and graceful style, and various symbols and stories create a unique space between the viewer and the work through a multi-layered structure. Using a medium-neutral expression method, he transcends existing narrow divisions, and freely moves between tradition and innovation with his own interpretation and perspective of the context of Japanese art. He has exhibited at the Pola Museum of Art, Chiba City Museum of Art, Busan Museum of Art, OPAM, and Art Tower Mito. He has also collaborated with many companies, including Maison Hermes, SHISEIDO THE STORE, and Kyoto Takashimaya T8 THIS IS NATURE.

 

MORI Mariko

One of Japan's leading artist, having participated in international exhibitions around the world since the mid-1990s and held numerous solo exhibitions in museums.
Major solo exhibitions include "Pure Land" (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2002), "Wave UFO" (Public Art Fund, The Kunsthaus Bregenz, 2003), "Oneness" (Banco do Brasil, 2011) and "Rebirth" (Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2012). Major group exhibitions include the "São Paulo Biennale"(2002) and the "51st Venice Biennale" (2005). Public artworks include "Sun Pillar" in Miyakojima (2010) and "Ring: One with Nature" as part of the official cultural programme of the Rio Olympics (2016). Major awards include the Award of Excellence (Menzioni d'Onore) at the 47th Venice Biennale in 1997 and an Honorary Fellowship from the University of the Arts London in 2014.

 

■ Participating Artists

＜Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival / EXPO PUBLIC ART Participating Artists＞ 13 groups in total : Akihito Okunaka, Teppei Kaneuji, COOK, SceNE Project (Earth Research Institute), Asuka Tazaki (Heralbony Co., Ltd.), DONECY, Atsuya Tominaga, Mugi Nakajima, BAKIBAKI, Rintaro Hashiguchi, Kazuhiko Hiwa, Mai Miyake, Mariko Mori

＜Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025 Participating Artists＞ 57 groups in total *Including the above 13 groups Aung Myat Thet, Allen Jones, Tomoaki Ishihara, Walter Cazotte, Ng Qiyu/Wu Qiyu, Evan Penny, Akihito Okunaka, Kazu Hiro, Teppei Kaneuji, Kamagasaki University of Arts, Karakuri Hakase, Satoshi Kawata, Kim Gemini, Carol Feuermann, Kim Sajik, COOK, Glaser/Kuntz, Sam Jinks, SceNE Project, RIHN, Jamie Salmon, Jacques Verduin, Jarko Baszeski, Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver, George Segal, John De Andrea, New ImmigrationsB, Souchan Toussaint, Asuka Tazaki (Heralbony), Shuntaro Tanikawa, Daniel Furman, Tuan Mami, Duane Hanson, Tony Matelli, DONECY, Atsuya Tominaga, Tom Kubler, Nakajima Mugi, Nishinar Yoshio, Non, BAKIBAKI, Hashiguchi Rintaro, Hata Yoshio + Enatsu Masaaki + Enatsu Yoshihiro, Patricia Piccinini, Hikawa Kazuhiko, Fabio Viale, Brian Booth Craig, Verinde de Brückele, Mark Saijan, Maurizio Cattelan, Matilda ter Heine, Miyake Mai, Mel Ramos, Mori Mariko, Morimura Yasumasa + Sakashita Noriyuki, Yoshida Momoko, Robert Graham, Ron Mueck

 

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

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・Official website and social media

Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025 Official Website: https://osaka-kansai.art/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/study_okiaf/
X (old 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: ARTLOGUE Inc. CEO Daisuke Suzuki
・Head office location: Kita-ku, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture
・Established: July 7, 2017
・Business description: Planning and management of "Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival"

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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