Special Exhibition “Where Words Overlap” Opens December 1 at the National Museum of Art, Osaka; 16 Artists on Asia’s Border Zones Where Languages Intersect

The special exhibition “Where Words Overlap” opens at the National Museum of Art, Osaka (Nakanoshima, Kita-ku, Osaka) on Tuesday, December 1, 2026, and runs until Sunday, March 14, 2027. Focusing mainly on places regarded as border zones in Asia, it looks at video, images and words connected with places where languages, ethnicities, cultures and ideologies intersect. The 16 participating artists and groups include Kenshichi Heshiki, Motoyuki Shitamichi, Cao Fei, Chikako Yamashiro, Ilya Kabakov and Kei Imazu.

Why look at the “overlapping” of languages now, as translation technology advances?

With improvements in translation technology, language barriers may seem to be getting lower. At the same time, the museum points out that language shapes culture and art, and that contact between people with different languages has produced not only discovery and change but also conflict and domination.

The exhibition brings to light aspects of the modern and contemporary world such as divisions caused by colonial rule and war, and oppression through normative languages and ideologies. It then presents works that turn the imagination toward “the states of people’s hearts that have slipped through official records.” The exhibition was curated by Ayako Takemoto, a researcher at the museum.

Of the eight works pictured on the official website, five, by Cao Fei, Motoyuki Shitamichi, Sayaka Uehara, Moon Kyungwon & Jeon Joonho and Kei Imazu, are in the collection of the National Museum of Art, Osaka. The museum opened in 1977 in the former Expo Museum of Fine Arts in Expo ’70 Commemorative Park in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, which it took over, and moved to Nakanoshima in 2004. It will mark its 50th anniversary in 2027.

What can be seen? The 16 participants and main works

The participating artists are Kenshichi Heshiki, Motoyuki Shitamichi, Cao Fei, Toshiro Maeda, Saburo Muraoka, Chikako Yamashiro, Sayaka Uehara, Meiro Koizumi, Ilya Kabakov, Keizo Kitajima, Natalia Papaeva, Moon Kyungwon & Jeon Joonho, Nobuaki Takekawa, Kei Imazu, Ho Rui An and Carrie Yamaoka. The main works pictured on the official website are as follows.

• Kenshichi Heshiki, “Let’s Use the Common Language, Iheya” (1972, private collection)

• Motoyuki Shitamichi, “Taichung, Taiwan, from ‘torii’” (2006–12, National Museum of Art, Osaka)

• Cao Fei, “Matryoshka-verse” (2022, National Museum of Art, Osaka)

• Sayaka Uehara, “Scattered Time, from ‘Island of Peace’” (2024/25, National Museum of Art, Osaka)

• Keizo Kitajima, “Street Performer in Peace Square, St. Petersburg, Russian Republic, September 27, 1991, from ‘USSR 1991’” (1991, collection of the artist)

• Natalia Papaeva, “Yokhor” (2018, Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka)

• Moon Kyungwon & Jeon Joonho, “News from Nowhere: Freedom Village” (2021, National Museum of Art, Osaka)

• Kei Imazu, “WEWE” (2022, National Museum of Art, Osaka)

Some works include specific place names in their titles: Heshiki’s work names Iheya, Shitamichi’s Taichung and Kitajima’s St. Petersburg. Video works such as Chikako Yamashiro’s “Your Voice Came Out Through My Throat,” Meiro Koizumi’s “In the Land of Oblivion” and Ho Rui An’s “Student Bodies” are also scheduled to be shown.

Six video works with a total running time of about 1 hour 50 minutes

The official website lists the running times of the six video works scheduled to be shown. Two of them are presented on two screens.

• Cao Fei, “Matryoshka-verse”: 37 min 38 s

• Chikako Yamashiro, “Your Voice Came Out Through My Throat”: 7 min 10 s

• Meiro Koizumi, “In the Land of Oblivion”: 13 min 06 s (two screens)

• Natalia Papaeva, “Yokhor”: 10 min 47 s

• Moon Kyungwon & Jeon Joonho, “News from Nowhere: Freedom Village”: 14 min 35 s (two screens)

• Ho Rui An, “Student Bodies”: 26 min 30 s

The six total 109 minutes 46 seconds. The official website does not give screening start times or say whether there are set sessions, so if you want to see all the videos, allow plenty of time.

Tickets, prices and access

Admission is 1,800 yen for adults and 1,200 yen for university students. Groups of 20 or more, and the Friday night discount (17:00–20:00), are 1,600 yen for adults and 1,100 yen for university students. High school students and younger and those under 18, as well as people with disabilities and one companion, are admitted free (proof required).

The same ticket also covers the collection exhibition in the B2 gallery, “50th Anniversary Pre-Event, Collection 2: The Contemporary Becomes History” (until March 22, 2027). It is the second phase of a program that looks back through the collection at trends in art up to 1977, when the museum opened, focusing on Pop Art, Minimal Art and Conceptual Art, which flourished in the 1960s.

Opening hours are 10:00 to 17:00, and until 20:00 on Fridays (last entry 30 minutes before closing). The museum is closed on Mondays (open on January 11), on January 12 and over the New Year period from December 28 to January 4. It is about a 5-minute walk southwest from Exit 2 of Watanabebashi Station on the Keihan Nakanoshima Line and about a 10-minute walk west from Exit 3 of Higobashi Station on the Osaka Metro Yotsubashi Line. It is about a 10-minute walk south from Exit 2 of JR Shin-Fukushima Station and Exit 3 of Hanshin Fukushima Station, and about a 20-minute walk southwest from JR Osaka Station. There is no dedicated parking.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a reservation?

The museum does not use timed reservations. Tickets can be bought at the museum’s ticket counter or online at the same price. Ticket sales and entry end 30 minutes before closing.

How long should I allow?

The running times of the six video works listed on the official website alone total 109 minutes 46 seconds. If you want to see all the videos, allow two hours or more, and more if you also visit the collection exhibition included in the same ticket. The museum is open until 20:00 on Fridays.

Editor’s perspective

The exhibition spans into 2027, when the museum celebrates its 50th anniversary. With a single ticket, visitors can move between a collection exhibition looking back at the contemporary art of the 1960s, now more than half a century ago, and a special exhibition gathering works about places where languages and ethnicities intersect. In the same B3 gallery, “Aki Sasamoto: Laboratory” is on view until November 3.

One of the participating artists, Kei Imazu, is also scheduled to hold an exhibition with Bagus Pandega at the Naoshima New Museum of Art in Kagawa Prefecture from December 13 (according to the official website of Benesse Art Site Naoshima). Autumn and winter exhibitions in the Kansai region are introduced in our [Autumn/Winter 2026] Recommended Exhibitions in Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and Hyogo.

Overview

Name: Special Exhibition “Where Words Overlap”
Dates: Tuesday, December 1, 2026 – Sunday, March 14, 2027
Hours: 10:00–17:00 (until 20:00 on Fridays; last entry 30 minutes before closing)
Closed: Mondays (open on January 11), January 12, New Year period (December 28 – January 4)
Venue: National Museum of Art, Osaka, B3 gallery
Address: 4-2-55 Nakanoshima, Kita-ku, Osaka
Admission: Adults 1,800 yen, university students 1,200 yen. Groups of 20 or more and night discount (Fridays 17:00–20:00): adults 1,600 yen, university students 1,100 yen. Free for high school students and younger and those under 18, and for people with disabilities and one companion (proof required)
Organizer: National Museum of Art, Osaka
Sponsor: Daikin Foundation for Contemporary Arts
Grant: Tadao Ando Culture Foundation
Official website: https://www.nmao.go.jp/events/event/20261201_stratified-languages/
*Information as of October 19, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: Sayaka Uehara, “Scattered Time, from ‘Island of Peace’,” 2024/25 ©Sayaka Uehara Photo courtesy of MISA SHIN GALLERY (from a press release by the Agency for Cultural Affairs)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on information on the National Museum of Art, Osaka’s official website (as of October 19, 2026).

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team