The theme for the inaugural “Maebashi International Art Festival” is “Mebuku. Where good things grow.”
Going beyond contemporary art, the festival will feature over 70 artists from diverse fields—including architecture, music, poetry, theater, and food—and will present more than 20 programs in collaboration with local creators from Maebashi.
The main venue is the Maebashi Museum of Art (Arts Maebashi), with additional locations including the Shiraiya Hotel, designed by architect Sou Fujimoto, and Akihisa Hirata’s Maebashi Galleria. Artworks will be installed in over 20 unique venues—including hotels, galleries, shops, and vacant buildings—as well as in shopping arcades and public open spaces.
We are creating an art experience that can be explored on foot, allowing visitors to tour the cluster of contemporary architecture and artworks concentrated within a radius of approximately 500 meters.
Featuring works by artists from Japan and abroad
Artists active both domestically and internationally will present projects that resonate with the memories and stories embedded in the city’s daily life.
At Arts Maebashi and Maebashi Galleria, the Martin Margiela exhibition — which has traveled to two venues, Kudan House in Tokyo and Taka Ishii in Kyoto—has been reorganized and is coming to the Maebashi International Art Festival 2026.
At the venue in Gunma, a diverse range of works—including collages, paintings, large-scale sculptures, assemblages, and video installations—will be exhibited and introduced, reflecting the “intimate atmosphere” that is so important to Margiela.
At Hauser & Wirth, Mika Ninagawa with EiM will present a new work.For the Arts Maebashi 10th Anniversary Exhibition “New Horizon: From History to the Future” (2023), Ninagawa used vibrant colors to depict the cycles of small life forms—such as flowers, butterflies, and fish—in the atrium of the defunct cabaret and the Shiraiya Hotel, respectively, as if narrating the unique story of Maebashi’s decline and rebirth.
In addition, a diverse range of programs will take place throughout downtown Maebashi , including the opening live event held over three days from Saturday, September 19, to Monday, September 21 (a national holiday) , as well as workshops, theater performances, gastronomic experiences, and the Shiraiya Hotel’s art illumination.
A market will also be held on weekends in November and December.
On Saturday, November 21, and Sunday, November 22, the “MAEBASHI ART MARKET – A Festival You Can Take Home” Produced by MEET YOUR ART with Kazemachi Yuyake Marche will be held primarily in the Maebashi Chuo-dori Shopping District. The event will feature a drawing market by young artists and select shops reinterpreting Gunma culture.
On Saturday, December 5, and Sunday, December 6, “Funclusion Hall Produced by HERALBONY” will be held at the Miyaken Genki 21 Nigiwai Hall.
The art lifestyle brand “Heralbony” will create an experiential workshop garden based on the concept of “FUNclusion”—a fusion of “FUN” and “Inclusion”—during the weekend of “International Week of Persons with Disabilities” (December 3–9).
Why not experience the launch of this new international art festival—which aims to make Maebashi a “sacred site of contemporary architecture and art”—firsthand? Tickets will be available for purchase on the official website starting May 26.
