Atsuya Tominaga will participate in the art program of the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo.

On Thursday, February 13th, 2025, Atsuya Tominaga took to the stage as a public art artist within the Expo site at the media presentation for "Study: Osaka-Kansai Triennale 2025," an art program connecting the Expo with the greater Osaka area.

This art festival will serve as a link between the Osaka-Kansai Expo and the greater Osaka area, and will be implemented as an art festival that studies the relationship between people, art, and society through art projects both in Japan and abroad.

During the Expo, Tominaga will appear in the "Love Stone Project 2025," in which people from all over the world visiting the Expo will work together to polish five stones carved into the shape of a heart.



Stone polishing process
The stones will shine brightly after being polished with seven levels of files (120, 240, 400, 800, 1500, 3000, 6000). During the project, seven levels of files will be prepared at the venue, and participants will hold the files they have prepared and polish the stones with water while touching them. The polishing period will run from the time of the Expo in April until the end of October, and the five stones, which were rough at the beginning, will shine by the end, and the five stones will reflect the sky of Yumeshima. Each stage of the process will give off a different charm, pleasing the eyes of visitors.

The scheduled dates are as follows:

・On the day of the event, admission is possible from 10:00 to 15:00 (cancelled due to weather)
・Participation is free and no reservation is required

[Official Press Release]
https://osaka-kansai.art/blogs/news/release250213

About Love Stone Project EXPO 2025 The Love Stone Project is an art project by Atsuya Tominaga, in which he polishes stones carved into the shape of hearts with the people he meets in each area, making them shine with the thoughts of everyone. After the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, sculptor Tominaga visited the affected towns of Tohoku and touched the stones that had witnessed everything that had happened, realizing that both stones and people are part of nature. He began polishing heart-shaped stones in the hope that the world could become one through stones. In 2013, his work Our Love, in which he polished stones from Italy, Iran, and the former Yugoslavia with the help of local citizens, won the grand prize at the 25th UBE Biennale (Contemporary Japanese Sculpture Exhibition), which became the impetus for him to take on the project in earnest around the world. To date, the project has been held in approximately 200 locations, including Japan, the United States, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bhutan, and Ethiopia, with over 20,000 people participating.