Matsumoto Architecture Art Festival 2026 ADVANCE: Second Phase Runs Until December 13, with Lee Ufan, teamLab and Others at 19 Venues in Matsumoto’s Notable Buildings

In Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, the second phase of “Matsumoto Architecture Art Festival 2026 ADVANCE” is being held for 41 days, from Tuesday, November 3 (national holiday) to Sunday, December 13, 2026. At 19 venues in 18 facilities across the city, from a former government office designated an Important Cultural Property to a souvenir shop that has become vacant, 18 artists from Japan and abroad present 19 exhibits. teamLab takes part for the first time, alongside Lee Ufan and Julian Opie. This time the festival has also expanded to Asama Onsen. General tickets have cost ¥3,000 since October 21.

Why make architecture the stage? Matsumoto in winter and “nameless architecture”

The festival was launched in 2022 by a group of tourism businesses in Matsumoto at the call of executive committee chair Tadamasa Saito. According to the official website, it aims to place works in the nostalgic buildings that remain in the city, sparking new change through the contrast and resonance between architecture and art. It also aims to reassess the value of “nameless architecture” found in everyday life and encourage its use. It is held in winter, when tourists decline, to bring bustle to the city.

According to the organizers, the first edition drew a total of 65,000 visitors amid the pandemic. The fourth edition, in 2026, is divided into two phases for the first time. The first phase, the “Video Art Festival” from February to March, focused on video, showing works by nine artists at a single venue, the Matsumoto City Museum. The second phase, toured on foot around the city, is the fifth public edition counting from the first festival in 2022.

This time it is also positioned as one of the main programs of “Culture City of East Asia 2026 Matsumoto,” with the Culture City of East Asia 2026 Matsumoto Executive Committee as co-organizer. The announcement describes it as a project embodying the philosophy “PEACE & ARTS.”

Highlights: What can visitors see?

According to information on the official website (October 4), the venues are divided into three areas: “Castle Town,” “Asama Onsen” and “West (Village of History).” In addition to buildings that are national Important Cultural Properties, Registered Tangible Cultural Properties or Nagano Prefectural Treasures, buildings in the former Rokku shopping street and a Taisho-era private library also serve as exhibition venues. The main pairings are as follows.

• Kappo Matsumotokan (Registered Tangible Cultural Property) × teamLab: A video work using as its motif the “masu-me-ga” (grid painting) technique seen in Ito Jakuchu’s masterpieces, the screens “Birds, Animals and Flowering Plants” and “Trees, Flowers, Birds and Animals.” It is shown in the Phoenix Room, surrounded by Ota Nankai’s sculptures and Kaneko Reikyo’s ceiling paintings.

• Former Matsumoto District Court building (Important Cultural Property) × Ken + Julia Yonetani: A 9 m-long “Last Supper” made of salt, also used as the festival’s main visual.

• Former Rectory (Nagano Prefectural Treasure) × Lee Ufan (1F) and Kotaro Fukui (2F): Each collaborated on woodblock prints with the Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints, which carries on the techniques of ukiyo-e woodblock printing.

• Matsumoto Performing Arts Centre × Julian Opie: The sculpture series “Busan Walkers,” in which people passing along the seaside in Busan, South Korea, were photographed and rendered three-dimensionally with simple outlines and colors.

• Asama Onsen area: Kengo Kito presents an installation using ready-made items such as scarves and mirrors at the former Asama Onsen Geien Union (2F, Tanabe Yakuhin), where geisha once practiced their arts. He also develops work from a different angle at Matsumoto Honbako, a renovated large bath of a long-established ryokan. At Shomon Bunko, a Taisho-era private library, Takashi Nakajima incorporates the building’s structure and light using materials that reflect and transmit light, such as tape and film. At the former Yoshizawa Souvenir Shop, a former souvenir shop now vacant, Mihoko Ogaki shows sculptures of human bodies that emit light in the darkness.

Four artists continue from the first phase: Masaharu Sato, Shishi Yamazaki, Hiroki Harada and Naoki Honjo. Sato worked with the rotoscope technique of tracing everyday scenes he filmed himself and died in 2019 after a long illness; his video work is shown at the former Aburasan Tailor Shop. Shishi Yamazaki shows hand-drawn rotoscope animation at the former Nenraiji bell tower, a Nagano Prefectural Treasure, and Honjo shows photographs that capture real landscapes like miniatures at the Matsumoto City Museum. Harada places work at the former Takamatsuya store.

In addition, Tomohiro Inaba takes part at the garden of the former Matsumoto High School, Takashi Suzuki at Kawakami Architects (the former Matsuoka Clinic) and Michael Rikio Ming Hee Ho at Shitamachi Kaikan. Hidetoshi Muramatsu exhibits at the Hikariya Bunko storehouse, Kazuto Imura at atelier m4 Imamachi Studio and Nobuhiro Sasaki at the solitary cell block of the former Matsumoto Juvenile Prison.

Tickets, prices and opening hours

General admission is ¥3,000 from October 21, and ¥2,000 for high school, university and vocational school students. Junior high school students and younger are free when accompanied by a guardian, as are holders of a disability certificate and one caregiver. Tickets can be bought online through asoview!. Nagano Prefecture residents can buy at half price by choosing the residents’ discount, and those from outside the prefecture at a 20% discount.

Opening hours and closing days vary by venue, and the organizers ask visitors to check the official website. Some venues are not barrier-free. Talk sessions and workshops with general director Osamu Ouchi and participating artists are also planned, with details to be announced later on the official website and social media.

Editor’s perspective

The second-phase venues include, alongside the former Matsumoto District Court building, an Important Cultural Property, and the former Rectory, a Nagano Prefectural Treasure, a vacant souvenir shop and the solitary cell block of the former Matsumoto Juvenile Prison. Using buildings as exhibition spaces regardless of whether they are designated cultural properties overlaps with the festival’s goal of reassessing the value of “nameless architecture.”

While the first phase gathered works in a single museum, the second phase is seen while moving from the castle town to Asama Onsen and the Village of History. Art festivals in the same period are compiled in our art fair and art festival calendar, and November events in our November exhibition and art event calendar. At the Nagano Prefectural Art Museum in Nagano City, a Kandinsky exhibition opened on November 7.

Overview

Name: Matsumoto Architecture Art Festival 2026 ADVANCE (second phase)
Dates: Tuesday, November 3 (national holiday) – Sunday, December 13, 2026 (41 days)
Hours and closing days: Vary by venue (see the official website)
Venues: 19 venues in 18 facilities in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture (Castle Town, Asama Onsen and West [Village of History] areas)
Admission: General ¥3,000 (from October 21), high school, university and vocational school students ¥2,000, junior high school students and younger free (with a guardian), disability certificate holders and one caregiver free
Organizer: Matsumoto Architecture Art Festival Executive Committee
Co-organizer: Culture City of East Asia 2026 Matsumoto Executive Committee
General director: Osamu Ouchi
Official website: https://maaf.jp
*Information as of October 20, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: Main visual for “Matsumoto Architecture Art Festival 2026 ADVANCE” (from the Matsumoto Architecture Art Festival Executive Committee’s press release)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on an announcement by the Matsumoto Architecture Art Festival Executive Committee (October 1, 2026) and information on the official website.

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team