The Museum of Osaka University presents the 16th Special Exhibition
The Modern Nakanoshima Collection
The Center for the Promotion of the “Great Osaka” Era’s Culture and Art
Nakanoshima, a sandbank in Osaka, was a land that symbolized the Kitchen of the Nation (Osaka’s nickname). During the Edo period, it was lined with the daimyo’s city storehouses and, later, in the modern era, with the Osaka City Central Public Hall (Important Cultural Heritage), completed in 1918, and the Osaka City Hall, which is fitted with stained glass. Nakanoshima has developed into a civic center where financial institutions, newspaper companies, libraries, halls, and hotels are concentrated. In 1962, the Gutai Pinacotheca, a museum of the Gutai Art Association, was opened, and members of Gutai also gave art performances at the 1970 Osaka Banpaku (the World’s Fair). Even today, Nakanoshima, with its concentration on public art, continues to function as an “eco-museum” and makes the entire city resemble one big museum.
The opening of the Nakanoshima Museum of Art in 2022 is expected to transform the area into a unique cultural zone as a “museum island.” Osaka University is also planning to renovate its Nakanoshima Center and open the Osaka University Nakanoshima Art Center (temporary name) in 2023 as a location for the arts, including aesthetics, art history, theater studies, musicology, and literary studies.
While observing these developments, the Museum of Osaka University will focus on the role Nakanoshima played in culture and the arts during the “Great Osaka” Era, when it became the largest city in Japan and the sixth largest in the world, surpassing Tokyo with the second expansion of the city area in 1925. This exhibition will reexamine the role of Nakanoshima in culture and the arts, focusing on the “イマジュリィ” (imagerie) that flooded everyday life and society, in the form of pamphlets, paintings, photographs, maps, and publications related to cultural facilities.
Exhibition Details
Dates: April 28 (Thursday)–July 30 (Saturday), 2022
Place: The Museum of Osaka University, Machikaneyama Shugakukan
*Free admission
Opening hours: 10:30 to 16:30, with last admission at 16:00. Closed on Sundays and public holidays
Organized by: The Museum of Osaka University
Co-organized by: The Graduate School of Humanities, Osaka University, and the Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University
Partners: The Osaka City Central Public Hall, Osaka Museum of History,
Osaka Museum of Housing and Living,
Takenaka Corporation, Rihga Royal Hotel Co.,
Osaka University School of Medicine, and Exhibition Room of Medical Historical Materials
Supported by: Kansai Association of Corporate Executives
Exhibition Overview
Chapter 1: A Panorama of Osaka Nakanoshima: From Edo, Meiji, and Taisho to the “Great Osaka” Era
Chapter 2: Tour of the Civic Center: Modern Life and Urban Facilities
Chapter 3: Deepening the “Art Island”: A New Center for Culture and Art
Click here for the list of exhibits.
Click here for the Nakanoshima Boat Tour video.
Related Events
- Symposium
Visualizing the Possibility of History: The Competition Proposal for the Reconstruction of the Osaka City Central Public Hall
Date: Saturday, June 25, 2022, 13:00–16:30
Place: Osaka City Central Public Hall, 3F, Medium Assembly Room
Please check the details below and register. https://www.museum.osaka-u.ac.jp/2022-05-19-16610/
- Museum lectures will be held on July 2 (Saturday) and July 23 (Saturday), 2022.
We will announce the application period and procedure on our website and SNS as soon as they are decided.
Request for your cooperation
To prevent the spread of the new coronavirusCOVID-19, there may be changes to the exhibition contents and events. You are kindly requested to
Please wear a mask, check your body temperature, and disinfect your hands when entering the museum.
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