(From the left) Producer MIYATA Hiroaki, Producer KAWAMORI Shoji
On 14 February 2025, the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition (hereinafter referred to as “the Association”), together with Theme Producer MIYATA Hiroaki (Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Keio University), who is in charge of the Thematic Project “Resonance of Lives”, held a press conference to announce the artists who will co-create the art installation at the Signature Pavilion ”Better Co-Being” as well as introduce the exhibition plans, including an overview of the virtual pavilion experience.
*Entry to the Signature Pavilion “Better Co-Being” requires reservation. Applications are currently being accepted via the two-month advance lottery.
About the Participating Artists
This pavilion aims to provide an experience where visitors connect and resonate with each other to envision the future together. Visitors will form groups and, starting from the once-in-a-lifetime connection bringing them together on that day and time, face the future together through a series of three sequences (resonance experiences): “resonance between people”, “resonance between people and the world”, and “resonance between people and the future.”
The two artists who will participate in the art installation (resonance experience) of Sequence 1: “Resonance between people” have now been announced. This experience will look at the self and others to create an experience that reaffirms what connects us.
The art installation is composed of a variety of motifs and is connected not only to the theme of the Expo, but also to theme weeks, which provides a framework for questions about the future. Coming face-to-face with values held dear by others and motifs that illuminate wishes inside oneself, this is an important sequence in which visitors will gain clues to the resonance that will lead them to the future together.
Art experience installation area (slope) in Sequence 1
♢Introductiondai of Participating Artists (by Producer MIYATA Hiroaki).
●SHIOTA Chiharu
SHIOTA is an artist who has been researching concepts such as “memory”, “presence and absence”, and “connection” using of thread and daily objects. For SHIOTA, the material of thread sometimes alludes to inner human emotions such as anxiety and isolation. Her work is also characterised by space in which memories and thoughts are multilayered and connected, presenting the possibility of reaching new understandings. Meanwhile, “Better Co-Being”, the theme that runs through the entire pavilion, presents the idea of exploring “ways of living together towards the future.” In this age of transition from a mass-production and mass-consumption society, how can we aim for a better co-existence with others and the world, while respecting the diverse backgrounds and values of each individual? We hope to express this question in a poetic and spatial way.
(Profile)
SHIOTA Chiharu was born in 1972 in Osaka, Japan and now lives and works in Berlin. She has produced works using a variety of techniques, including sculpture, photography and video, with a focus on large-scale installations that weave threads of absent existence, such as memories that reside in places and objects, while confronting the fundamental human issues of life and death, and exploring what it means to live and what existence is. In 2008, she received the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists. In 2015, she was selected to represent the Japanese Pavilion at the 56th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale. In 2019, she held her largest-ever solo exhibition, “The Soul Waves” at the Mori Art Museum. In 2020, she received the 61st Mainichi Art Award.
●MIYAJIMA Tatsuo
MIYAJIMA is considering an installation focusing solely on sound. This will take the form of looking up at the sky cut out visually by the pavilion’s architecture (canopy). The experience of listening to a soundscape of diverse overlapping sounds (voices) while gazing at a landscape where the boundary between forest and sky blends together will lead visitors into a state of contemplation and introspection. By listening carefully to the thoughts and wishes that others hold dear, visitors are encouraged to reconsider the human connection from a new angle. This process will also provide an opportunity for visitors to experience and understand Better Co-being’s aim of “designing the future while recognising each other’s diversity.”
(Profile)
MIYAJIMA attracted international attention in 1988 when he was invited to participate in the New Talent section of the Venice Biennale with his work using digital numerals. Since then, he has had numerous exhibitions in Japan and abroad and has exhibited his work in more than 250 locations in 30 countries. He stayed in New York at the invitation of the ACC in 1990,and in Paris at the invitation of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in 1993. His major works include Mega Death (1999/2016). He is involved in the “Revival of Time” Kaki no Ki project (1995-), an art project in which children around the world raise the seedlings from an A-bombed persimmon tree, and in the “Sea of Time – Tohoku project” which aims to commemorate the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake, preserve the memory of the disaster, and create a future for Tohoku.
*Details of the art installations, including Sequences 2 and 3, will be announced from March 2025.
Connection to the “Forest of Tranquillity”
The Signature Pavilion “Better Co-Being” has no roof or walls and stands together with the Forest of Tranquillity at the centre of the Expo site (designer: SANAA, site area: 1,634.99 m2). Better Co-Being, together with the Forest of Tranquillity, is a testing ground for multi-layered resonance between people, the world, and the future, where visitors are encouraged to explore to gain deeper awareness and create a better future.
The Forest of Tranquillity will feature art experiences corresponding to the seven themes of the Theme Weeks that will be held during the Expo. Like in Better Co-Being, these art works will be co-created by a diverse range of artists. Some of these artists have now been announced. Details of each art installation and additional artists will be announced from March 2025 onwards.
●ONO Yoko
ONO Yoko is an influential artist, musician and activist born in Tokyo in 1933. She became an important figure on the New York art scene by 1960, creating pioneering works such as Cut Piece and Grapefruit. In 1968, she and her husband John Lennon began collaborating in art, music and activities. ONO has released numerous albums, including the Grammy Award-winning “Double Fantasy”, and her work has been exhibited at venues such as MoMA and the Tate Modern. In a career spanning over 70 years, ONO’s work as an artist and activist remains uniquely relevant and continues to challenge the boundaries between artist and audience.
●Pierre HUYGHE
Pierre HUYGHE was born in Paris, France, in 1962 and is currently based in Santiago. His work is internationally known and has been featured in various exhibitions around the world.
HUYGHE’s recent major solo exhibitions include “LIMINAL” at Punta della Dogana, Venice (2024)/Leeum Art Museum, Seoul (2025), “UUmwelt” at Serpentine Gallery, London (2018), and “Soto Tamashii” at Dazaifu Tenmangu (2017). He has also worked on a number of large-scale projects, including the Munster sculpture project “After a Life Ahead” (2017), the Metropolitan Museum of Art Roof Garden project (2015), and “Untiled” dOCUMENTA (2012). In 2019, he was assigned as the artistic director of “Okayama Art Sumit 2019 If the Snake”. His works are in the collections of Centre Georges Pompidou, Museum of Modern Art, New York, among others.
●Leandro ERLICH
ERLICH was born in Argentina in 1973, and is now based in Paris and Buenos Aires. For the past 20 years, his works have been exhibited around the world and are in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, and many other institutions. ERLICH’s work questions the perceptual foundations of reality and the worldviews we unconsciously take as common sense through visual frameworks and experiences. He seeks to close the distance between museum and gallery spaces and everyday experience, and to create a dialogue between what we believe and what we see.
Gifts for Pavilion Visitors
Through three resonant experiences, the pavilion values the diverse futures envisioned together by the visitors who came to gather to connect and resonate with each other at that time on that day.. At the end of each experience, visitors will receive one of seven coloured bags, inspired by Better Co-Being’s Diver Sphere motif, as a gift corresponding to the various futures that they have envisioned through the experiences they had.
The bags will contain “Wellness Energy” in exclusive packaging designed for the pavilion. This gift is based on the concept of “vital life energy”, which emerged from Otsuka Pharmaceutical’s rethinking of water, nutrition, and oxygen, which are essential for human life. We believe that when each individual shines, we resonate more strongly with each other, leading to Better Co-Being. (supported by Otsuka Pharmaceutical)
About the Virtual Pavilion
The press conference featured a talk show by producers MIYATA Hiroaki and KAWAMORI Shoji on the theme of the virtual pavilions.
Overviews of the virtual pavilions for “Better Co-Being” and “LIVE EARTH JOURNEY and the experiences they offer were unveiled, and the role of and expectations for the metaverse at the Expo were discussed.
♢About the Better Co-Being Virtual Pavilion (supported by TOPPAN Holdings)
The Expo will be a testing ground for future society, where many people will gather and make memories. The Better Co-Being Virtual Pavilion, which is in charge of the theme “Resonance of Lives”, uses Web3 technology to propose “new ways for visitors to leave memories”, with the idea of serving as a starting point for implementing it into society.
Visitors can create their own original Better Co-Being “Journal” by combining text and photos taken at the venue. The submitted “Journals” will be displayed in the Better Co-Being virtual pavilion. We hope you will feel the resonance while travelling through the virtual space where various memories are gathered.
Images of the Virtual pavilion (Top: exterior, Bottom: interior)
Hands-on event for Better Co-Being apps and devices
The progress of the “Better Co-Being app” and the “Wonder Stone ‘echorb,’” which are Key Catalysts designed to lead visitors to a resonant experience was also announced. A hands-on event and exhibition related to the pavilion were also held.
１）Better Co-Being App (supported by OBAYASHI CORPORATION)
This is a web-based app that supports visitors’ resonant experiences. The Better Co-Being App, in addition to commentary on the art installations, analyses and expresses the experiences and choices of the visitors gathered at that moment, based on the Expo’s seven themes, to encourage awareness of their own values and the diverse values of others. In Sequence 3, the finale of the pavilion experience, weather data collected by local environmental sensors (provided by Obayashi Corporation) will be overlaid on top of the previous experiences and choices to create a different image of the future each time as a five-sensory experience centred on video art.
The app can be used in the Forest of Tranquillity and throughout the Expo site. By utilising AR technology it allows visitors to hold up their smartphone camera to encounter other people’s thoughts and emotions at each location, triggering connections and resonance.
Visualisation of relationships with others Camera use with AR technology
２）Wonder Stone “echorb” (supported by Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.)
Applying 3D haptic technology, which created an illusion in the brain through special vibrations, the Wonder Stone “echorb” will lead visitors to a resonant experience through a mysterious sense of touch. In addition, by working with heartbeat sensors (millimetre-wave sensors and load sensors provided by Murata Manufacturing), each visitor’s heartbeat can be placed in their own stone, and visitors can tour the pavilion while feeling their own life in the palm of their hand.
“Wonder Stone ‘echorb’” Trial Session
３）Educational content and augmented reality (AR) games (supported by AstraZeneca K.K.)
Web content will be provided to enable children visiting the pavilion to learn about the connection between the Earth and human health in an easy-to-understand way. Through an introduction to climate change initiatives and a photo shoot with the Earth in an AR game, the game will provide an opportunity to think about the future of the Earth. One of the Earth models is based on the Better Co-Being logo ‘Diver Sphere’.
Screen images of web content
About the Signature Events
Throughout the duration of the Expo, signature events are planned to think about and envision the future society that Better Co-Being advocated together with visitors. In collaboration with sponsors, a multifaceted programme is being planned incorporating various fields.
●EXPO Resonance Festival
The Pavilion will organise exhibitions, workshops, and performances together with people who resonate with the philosophy of Better Co-Being.
(1)14 – 15 May, 2025: EXPO Arena “Matsuri”
With the theme “Human Resonance Life Festival”, this event will be held in collaboration with demoexpo, an organisation that is involved in activities such as “Machigoto Expo” and “Expo Bar” to promote the Expo on the city level. The event will feature stage performances and booths where various citizens and communities will interact and resonate with each other, creating a “new festival” that will remain after the Expo.
(2)18 – 19 June 2025 : EXPO Exhibition Centre “WASSE”
This exhibition will deepen understanding and ideas about Better Co-Being with a zone for research presentations by technical college students from all over the country who are working on solutions to the challenges of the future society, as well as hands-on exhibitions, workshops, and stage events on themes such as living and sustainability.
(3) 30 June 2025: EXPO Hall “Shining Hat”
Based on the theme “Resonance of Life”, an experiential concert combining musical performances and the latest digital technology will be held, as well as talk sessions with related parties.
●Better Co-Being Resonance Event High School Business Contest for Future and Health supported by TOWA PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD.
4 August, 2025: “Shining Hat”
This business competition will be held to create a vision of a “Future Society for Life in a local region” together with visitors to accelerate the realisation of diverse wellbeing (co-being) that meets the needs of each individual. Entries are being accepted until 17.00 on 7 April 2025. Event Website: https://www.towayakuhin.co.jp/bizcon/
●Better Co-Being Forum
For the health of people, society, and the planet, we will hold forums and exhibitions to discuss a range of global issues with domestic and international experts and to envision the future of health equity.
(1)15 May 2025: Theme Weeks Studio (supported by AstraZeneca K.K.)
With the ageing of society, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have become major issues for society. In order to extend healthy life expectancy, new solutions and innovations to the various issues surrounding these NCDs need to be disseminated and expanded. This event will share excellent national and international initiatives and discuss current challenges and solutions, particularly with regard to COPD, which is thought to be linked to cancer and cardiovascular disease. Through this discussion, we will explore the way to the future of accessible and quality healthcare systems that lead to early detection of disease and prevention of serious illness.
(2)23 May 2025: Theme Weeks Studio (supported by Alexion Pharma GK).
(3)30 June, 2025: Theme Weeks Studio (supported by AstraZeneca K.K.)
The Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience (PHSSR) is a global project being undertaken and led by AstraZeneca in collaboration with the London School of Economics and the World Economic Forum. In Japan, Keio University and the Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) are leading the project. The project aims to build a more resilient and sustainable healthcare system based on the lessons learnt from the experience of a pandemic that overwhelmed the healthcare system. This event will bring together national and international experts to showcase initiatives in their countries. In addition to the importance of early response to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, there will be discussions on improving the quality and accessibility of healthcare delivery systems through advances in medical DX and realising evidence-based policy-making.