“Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025” fully opened with NON's participation! ”Ribbons Tied on the Back (Kokeshi Lanterns)” on display at the National Museum of Ethnology, Expo '70 Commemorative Park
The international art festival “Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025” is finally fully open from April 13, 2025.
This art festival started in 2022 as “an art festival to study (learn and explore) the relationship between art x people x society” and will be held for the fourth time this year. The festival has delivered new encounters and discoveries through contemporary art in Osaka and the Kansai region.
■NON's work is currently on display at the National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku)
NON's works are on display at the National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku) in the Expo '70 Commemorative Park, located on the site of the 1970 Osaka World's Fair. Anyone who enters the Expo Park (for a fee) is free to view the exhibits.
On display is “Ribbon Tied at the Back (Kokeshi Lantern),” a collaboration between “ribbon art” by Nono and the traditional Tohoku craft of kokeshi lanterns. Five kokeshi lanterns, each 180 cm tall, are lined up in a row, creating a stunning installation.
These “Kokeshi Lanterns” were created using the form of the Tsugaru Kokeshi doll, a traditional handicraft of the Tsugaru region, as a motif. Based on the design drawings by NON, craftsmen painted the lanterns one by one, and NON herself tied ribbons on them to express her own unique world view.
↑Based on NON's design drawings, artisans of Kokeshi lanterns, a traditional Tohoku craft, painted the lanterns.
This exhibition is also positioned as a teaser exhibit for “Non-Ribbon Art,” which will be held in the first half of the festival period as a cooperative project of the National Museum of Ethnology.
In addition, Minpaku is currently holding a special exhibition, “Exposition of Folk Tools: Find and Discover the Elements of Wisdom,” to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its founding. Non's “Kokeshi Lanterns” are also on display as a unique fusion of traditional crafts and modern art, as if in response to this exhibition that sheds light on the tools and wisdom of daily life.
We hope you will visit Expo '70 Commemorative Park-Minpaku.
↑In the exhibition hall, visitors can also go around the back of the “Kokeshi lanterns” to view them.
■ 開催概要
Outline of the Festival
Name: Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025
Dates: April 11 (Friday) - October 13 (Monday), 2025
・Official Website：https://osaka-kansai.art/
■Overview of the exhibition of NON's works
Venue: National Museum of Ethnology (10-1 Senri Banpaku Kouen, Suita-shi, Osaka)
https://maps.app.goo.gl/a3fMtXBFwk4Eu1pq6
Date: April 13 (Sun.) - June 3 (Tue.) (tentative)
Hours: 10:00 - 17:00 (admission until 16:30)
Closed: Wednesdays (or the weekday immediately following a Wednesday if the Wednesday is a national holiday)
Admission: Free (Exhibits are displayed in the free zone of the National Museum of Ethnology)
※Admission to Expo '70 Commemorative Park (fee required)
"Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025” ticket holders can pass through the Expo Park for free.
Please present your “Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025” ticket at the manned counter at each gate of the Expo '70 Commemorative Park and receive a pass.
If you wish to use Expo '70 Commemorative Park, you will need to pay an admission fee to the park.
※Discounts on admission fees to the National Museum of Ethnology
・Present your “Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025” ticket at the ticket office of the National Museum of Ethnology and receive a discount on the admission fee.
