The Expanded Section, held in the vast post-industrial setting of the Creative Center Osaka in Kitakagaya, offers an exhilarating counterpoint to the refined classicism of Nakanoshima. Once a shipyard, this cavernous space now plays host to large-scale installations, performative works, and cutting-edge media art, making full use of its 5.5-meter ceilings and expansive 1,200-square-meter floor. Under the thematic banner of “expansion”, this section champions artists who stretch the boundaries of perception, material, and experience.

Yoko Ono, FLY, 1963/2025, Photo: Yuto Yamamoto, Courtesy of ART OSAKA

This year, 19 artists and artist collectives, represented by 20 galleries, present works that are resolutely site-specific, embracing the industrial textures and monumental scale of the venue. The highlight is a powerful installation by legendary avant-garde artist Yoko Ono, whose iconic piece FLY (1963/2025) returns in a new iteration. Three ladders stand beneath a soaring ceiling, inviting visitors to climb metaphorically toward their own reflections and aspirations. Nearby, a takeaway message station echoes Ono’s long-standing tradition of participatory art, offering intimate fragments of wisdom in a setting built for grand gestures.

Wataru Ito, Control, 2024, Courtesy of GALLERY KOGURE

Among the standout installations is Wataru Ito’s cellular paper sculptures, which unfurl like an organic bloom across the cavernous space, transforming everyday material into poetic proliferation. Using nothing but intricately cut paper, the Tokyo-based artist generates a suspended ecology that invites both awe and quiet contemplation.

Performance and moving image also hold a central role. Masayuki Kawai, a veteran of Japanese video art, animates the space with his analog video feedback loops in Three Elements (2024), an audio-visual performance that becomes a living, breathing system of light and sound. Kawai’s layered visuals interact with the ambient architecture, creating a psychedelic, almost spiritual encounter with technology.

Yuta Shimoda, FUGU, 2023, Courtesy of biscuit gallery + AWASE gallery

Other compelling works include Yu Sora’s delicate black-thread embroideries on white cloth, evoking fragile domestic landscapes threatened by disaster and loss. Also, Yuta Shimoda and Sawako Nasu’s collaborative spatial installation merges engineering and painterly intuition, and Jo Takahashi’s towering mechanical structures, which seem to channel forces both human and elemental.

The Expanded Section embraces the monumental and the ephemeral. These works live within their context, drawing strength from their surroundings. This bold embrace of scale, duration, and spatial experimentation underscores Kitakagaya’s emergence as a vital node in Osaka’s creative topography.