see public installations & hyperreal sculptures at osaka kansai international art festival 2025

CULTURAL EVENT IN TANDEM WITH OSAKA-KANSAI EXPO 2025

Held alongside the 2025 World Expo in Japan, the ‘Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival’ returns for its fourth edition with a citywide program themed around social impact. From April 11 to October 13, 2025, visitors encounter a curated selection of exhibitions, public installations, and creative dialogues spanning six venues across Osaka. These include major landmarks designed by Tadao Ando and Kisho Kurokawa, as well as culturally vibrant neighborhoods like Nishinari and Semba. The 2025 edition brings together 65 artists and 6 curators from 20 countries and regions, positioning art as a medium for social reflection and community transformation. As media partner, designboom follows the festival’s unfolding narrative and its contribution to shaping a future-focused cultural scene.

OSAKA KANSAI INTERNATIONAL ART FESTIVAL 2025 PROGRAM

Within the ‘Future Society Showcase Project Art Expo Public Art’ at the Expo site on Yumeshima Island, large-scale works from international artists populate the grounds, inviting visitors to engage with the theme of ‘Designing a Future Society for Life’ through visual storytelling and public interaction.

In Osaka Culturarium Tempozan, originally designed by Tadao Ando as the Suntory Museum, the exhibition ‘Reshaped Reality’ offers hyperrealistic human sculptures that challenge the boundaries between illusion and corporeal form. Curated by Maximilian Lecce and Lena Pohlmann, the show features works by Maurizio Cattelan, Ron Mueck, Patricia Piccinini, and Evan Penny, among others, questioning the meaning of humanity in the age of technological transformation.

In the Kita area, Hiroshi Sakuma curates ‘Speculative Music / Narrative School,’ a continuation of past festivals exploring the role of music, storytelling, and internet culture in shaping behavioral change. Artists such as Sekai, Niru Fruit, and x0o0x_ present new works that speculate on the evolving relationship between culture and future societies.

In the Nishinari district, the festival deepens its engagement with local communities, featuring collaborative practices involving the Kamagasaki University of the Arts, Cocoroom, and the fashion label Nishinarii Yoshio. Art spaces such as the Kioku Handicraft Museum and the 100-year-old Sanno Harmonica Tenement House host installations, poetry, and a pop-up café curated by Production Zomia, becoming sites for reflection on memory, change, and transnational exchange.

The Semba area stages ‘Re: Human – The New Human Condition,’ curated by Mitsuhiro Kishimoto. Through sculpture, photography, and installation, artists like Tomoki Ishihara, Teppei Kaneuji, and Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver consider what it means to be human amid rapid globalization and shifting values, bridging the past visions of future societies with new ethical questions.

Finally, the Osaka International Convention Center (Grand Cube Osaka), designed by Kisho Kurokawa, hosts ‘Study × PLAS: Asia Arts Fair.’ Co-organized by Artlogue and Plastic Art Seoul, this joint Korea–Japan fair celebrates 60 years of diplomatic relations and showcases contemporary Asian art. Alongside exhibitions, the event will feature creative economy startup contests (StARTs UPs) and symposiums (Study Meeting), further embedding art in the region’s economic and cultural development.

project info: 

name: Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival | @study_okiaf

dates: April 11 – October 13 2025

venues: Osaka-Kansai Expo Venue / Osaka Culturarium Tempozan (formerly Suntory Museum) / Nakanoshima area (Osaka Prefectural International Conference Center), Semba area / Nishinari area / Osaka Kita area / National Museum of Ethnology (Expo Commemoration Park where the 1970 Expo was held) / Seaside Studio CASO / Matsubara City, and more