The thematic project for Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan that I am in charge of is "Invigorating Lives."
The theme of the project is "to create a place for co-creation where people can experience the joy and pleasure of living and enhance their lives together through playing, learning, sports, and art.”
Based on this, the “Invigorating Lives” thematic project will be launched before the Expo with a variety of activities and events aimed at democratizing creativity for all people and all things.
The signature pavilion of the “Invigorating Lives” thematic project is the Playground of Life: Jellyfish Pavilion.
The motif of jellyfish was conceived during a series of hot pot meetings held at Tetsuo Kobori Architects from 2020 to 2021, loosely organized by Sachiko Nakajima and Tetsuo Kobori, together with a diverse group of people.
These hot pot meetings brought together a diverse array of people, including artists, mathematicians, educators, architects, and others, and they became a venue where everyone could freely discuss questions such as “What is the Expo?”, “Why now?”, “What does it mean to invigorate lives?”, and “What is life and creativity?’
At one point, the discussion turned to topic of what is important for life and creativity, and we decided it was “flowing play.”
To spark creativity, it is important to play not in a routine way, but in an “flowing” way, like playing in a sandbox or in the forest. In other words, to start with a blank slate.
As for life, it is actually important that there are times when we are scatterbrained or don’t feel like moving. Diversity is the power that makes life more resilient to sudden disasters.
So, we wanted to provide a space for flowing play and a building that felt alive, where each person who entered could unleash their creative potential. We wanted a concept that embodied transparency, because we believe that what is important are those things that sometimes cannot be explained in words (that is, things you can sense with the five senses or feel with the body). From this, the motif of “jellyfish” suddenly emerged.
Later, we all went to see the Tree of Life at the Tower of the Sun, and to our surprise (nobody knew it), there was a large jellyfish and a polyp, which is a baby jellyfish on the seafloor.
Jellyfish are a symbol of creativity and life within us all, a symbol of the sometimes unexplainable. In the center of the Jellyfish Pavilion is the towering Tree of Creation.
The Jellyfish Pavilion abundantly features STEAM (creative, practical, and cross-curricular learning, representing Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics, among others. The excitement of a scientist, artist or inventor-like way of life)! We are all working diligently to create this pavilion in the hope that through play that stimulate the five senses, it will inspire people to take a step forward.
It is also a place that symbolizes the journey of the Playful STEAM Revolution (that is, the democratization of creativity).
The "Invigorating Lives" thematic project will use the opportunity of the Expo to promote intermingling and to connect the world through a variety of learning, play, creation, and living revolutions (the Future Earth School concept for everyone ages 0 to 120).
The Jellyfish Pavilion, which symbolizes creativity and life, will be built by Nakajima, the architectural design office of "co-creation" architect Tetsuo Kobori, Daiwa House Industry, Fujita, Tom Architects, and others, as well as Dai Nippon Printing, Tobu Top Tours, Mizuno, Hikari no Kuni, Lynet Japan Recycle, Ricoh, Ritsumeikan, No-side (Hitotsunagi Cafe), the World Yuru Sports Association, Dialogue Japan Society, Millième, Couture Digital, Happoen, everyone involved in the Future Earth School, various musicians, mathematicians, folklorists, teachers, children, housewives, grandmas and grandpas... and many other so-called “jellyfish friends.” (Construction will start on October 1, 2023 in Yumeshima.)
All of us "jellyfish" look forward to meeting you somewhere along your journey or at the Jellyfish Pavilion!
