Open Storage 2026 at MASK in Kitakagaya, Osaka: Large Works by Kohei Nawa and Others Shown Free

Open Storage 2026 will be held from Friday, October 30 to Sunday, November 29 at MASK (MEGA ART STORAGE KITAKAGAYA), a storage facility in Kitakagaya, Suminoe-ku, Osaka. The event opens the large contemporary artworks stored at MASK to the public on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays, 17 days in total, with free admission. This year, Kohei Nawa is the main artist. On Friday, November 27 and Saturday, November 28, Nawa and Damien Jalet will stage the performance “Prism” at the nearby Creative Center Osaka.

What is MASK? A storage facility in a former steel processing plant

MASK opened in 2014 in a former steel processing plant and warehouse of about 1,000 m². It stores and exhibits large works by internationally active contemporary artists, and has opened them to the public every year through Open Storage since it opened. Works in its collection listed on the official website include Kenji Yanobe’s “LUCA” (2024), Miwa Yanagi’s “Stage Trailer: Kacho Niji” (2014), Hironari Kubota’s “Osaka Kaisen” (2013) and Teppei Kaneuji’s “Splash and Flake (Pipeline/Kitakagaya)” (2014).

The exhibition is organized by the Osaka Creative Chishima Foundation and co-organized by Chishima Real Estate Co., Ltd. The curator is Chieko Kinoshita.

This year’s highlights: Kohei Nawa and Kenji Yanobe

In addition to Nawa, the participating artists are Muneteru Ujino, Teppei Kaneuji, Hironari Kubota, Atsuko Mochida, Miwa Yanagi and Kenji Yanobe. Videos of Jalet and Nawa’s past performances are also screened at the venue. Yanobe reconfigures the installation he presented at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka exhibition “We in the Cabinet of Wonders, Vanish.” to fit the MASK space.

Nawa was born in 1975, is based in Kyoto and heads Sandwich Inc. In 2018 he presented “Throne” as a special exhibit at the Louvre, and in 2023 he permanently installed the 25-meter-tall “Ether (Equality)” on Île Seguin in the Seine, Paris. MASK’s collection also includes Nawa’s “Stage set for the NHK Symphony Orchestra Spectacle Concert ‘Tale of the Phoenix’” (2015).

On Saturday, October 31, Yanobe will hold a talk and signing event, “Kenji Yanobe: A Torrent of Talk About My Own Works vol. 2” (advance 800 yen, same day 1,000 yen, 150 people). On Saturday, November 21, there will also be dialogue-based viewing tours for elementary school students and for junior high school students and older (10 people per session, free, application required).

Damien Jalet × Kohei Nawa “Prism”: four performances at a former shipyard

“Prism” is an experimental performance born of more than ten years of collaboration between choreographer Jalet and Nawa. Starting from the sculpture “Prism,” developed from Nawa’s signature “PixCell,” it explores the boundary between the real and the virtual through movement. Depending on the viewing angle, the bodies inside the box appear refracted and transformed. It was created based on the work presented at the GS Arts Center in Seoul, South Korea, in June 2026.

The venue, Creative Center Osaka, is the former site of Namura Shipbuilding’s Osaka factory, and also where the two concentrated on producing “VESSEL” (premiered in 2016), their first collaboration. Music is by Marihiko Hara, lighting by Yukiko Yoshimoto and costumes by Sruli Recht, with four dancers: Emilios Arapoglou, Risa Makino, Sotaro Ito and Ema Yuasa.

There are four performances in total, at 19:00 on Friday, November 27 and at 15:00, 17:00 and 19:00 on the 28th, each lasting 40 minutes. The performances take a standing installation format without seats, with 100 people per performance. Advance tickets cost 5,000 yen for adults and 3,000 yen for youth (25 and under), and same-day tickets are 500 yen more each. Tickets are sold on Peatix, and no same-day tickets will be released if advance tickets sell out.

Access

Each venue is about a ten-minute walk from Exit 4 of Kitakagaya Station on the Osaka Metro Yotsubashi Line. Creative Center Osaka is about a five-minute walk from MASK. Open Storage is open from 10:00 to 16:00 only on Sunday, November 8, when Suminoe Art Beat 2026 (free admission) is also held in Kitakagaya. Teppei Kaneuji is also showing work at “Teppei Kaneuji: Smoke and Mist, Nakasendo Kashiwabara-juku” in Maibara City, Shiga Prefecture.

Overview

Name: MASK “Open Storage 2026”
Dates: Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays from Friday, October 30 to Sunday, November 29, 2026 (17 days in total)
Hours: 12:00–18:00 (10:00–16:00 on November 8)
Venue: MASK (MEGA ART STORAGE KITAKAGAYA)
Address: 5-4-48 Kitakagaya, Suminoe-ku, Osaka
Admission: Free (the performance “Prism” is paid; venue: Creative Center Osaka, 4-1-55 Kitakagaya, Suminoe-ku, Osaka)
Organizer: Osaka Creative Chishima Foundation
Co-organizer: Chishima Real Estate Co., Ltd.
Special cooperation: Sandwich Inc.
Official website: https://mask.chishima-foundation.com/
*Information as of October 20, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: Main visual for Open Storage 2026 (from a press release by Chishima Real Estate Co., Ltd.)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on press materials from Chishima Real Estate Co., Ltd. (October 9, 2026) and information on MASK’s official website.

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team