The season has come when you can walk into an “art warehouse” whose doors are usually shut — for free. MASK (MEGA ART STORAGE KITAKAGAYA), a storage facility for large contemporary artworks in Kitakagaya, Osaka, is holding its public exhibition “Open Storage 2026”. It runs on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays from Friday, October 30 to Sunday, November 29, 2026 — 17 days in all. It is run by the Chishima Foundation for Creative Osaka.
See giant works resting in a former factory
MASK uses a former steel processing factory and warehouse of about 1,000 m² to store large contemporary artworks. This year’s main artist is Kohei Nawa, a Kyoto-based sculptor. Works from the collection by Muneteru Ujino, Teppei Kaneuji, Hironari Kubota, Atsuko Mochida, Miwa Yanagi and Kenji Yanobe are also on show. The curator is Chieko Kinoshita. The real draw is seeing, up close in a former factory, works too big to fit in a museum.
The venue also shows video of performances that Nawa and choreographer Damien Jalet have presented so far. The two have been collaborating for more than ten years on the theme of body and sculpture.
Kohei Nawa × Damien Jalet’s “Prism” at the former Namura Shipyard
On Friday, November 27 and Saturday, November 28, the pair’s performance “Prism” will be staged at Creative Center Osaka (the former site of the Namura Shipbuilding Osaka Works). Starting from the sculpture “Prism”, which grew out of Nawa’s signature “PixCell” series, the work explores the boundary between the real and the virtual through the movement of dancers: the bodies in the box are refracted and change form depending on the angle you see them from. The venue has a special connection to the pair, as it was where they intensively created their first collaboration, “VESSEL” (premiered in 2016). Music is by Marihiko Hara. It is a standing-only installation format with no seats; each performance lasts 40 minutes and is limited to 100 people. Tickets are sold through Peatix, and if advance tickets sell out, there will be no tickets on the day.
A talk by Kenji Yanobe and a tour for children
Kenji Yanobe’s installation, presented at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka, is also reassembled to suit the MASK space. On Saturday, October 31, Yanobe himself will give a talk, “Kenji Yanobe – A Torrent of Talk on My Own Works vol.2”, followed by a signing. At SMASELL Sustainable Commune, two minutes’ walk from MASK, the “KITAKAGAYA MUSEUM SHOP”, which sells goods by artists connected with Kitakagaya, is expanding and will give a special display of “SHIP’S CAT (Flying)”.
On Saturday, November 21, there is also a free viewing tour in which participants talk with each other while looking around the stored works (two sessions, one for elementary school children and one for junior high school students to adults; 10 people each; application required). It looks like a good first step into contemporary art for parents and children.
Event details
- Name: MASK “Open Storage 2026”
- Dates: Friday, October 30 to Sunday, November 29, 2026, on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays only (17 days in total)
- Hours: 12:00–18:00 (Sunday, November 8 only: 10:00–16:00)
- Venue: MASK (5-4-48 Kitakagaya, Suminoe-ku, Osaka)
- Admission: Free
- Access: about 10 minutes on foot from Exit 4 of Kitakagaya Station (Osaka Metro Yotsubashi Line) (5 minutes on foot from MASK to Creative Center Osaka)
- “Prism”: Friday, November 27 from 19:00; Saturday, November 28 from 15:00, 17:00 and 19:00 (4 performances in total), Creative Center Osaka (4-1-55 Kitakagaya, Suminoe-ku, Osaka). Advance: general ¥5,000, youth (25 and under) ¥3,000; on the day: general ¥5,500, youth ¥3,500
- Talk “Kenji Yanobe – A Torrent of Talk on My Own Works vol.2”: Saturday, October 31, 13:00–15:00 (signing 15:00–18:00), MASK, advance ¥800, on the day ¥1,000, capacity 150
- Website: https://mask.chishima-foundation.com/
