Operating Factories Become Stages for Contemporary Art: Setouchi Industrial Art Festival 2026 to Take Place from October 3 to 31

A new form of art festival will launch in the Setouchi region, an area that has long supported Japan’s manufacturing industries. From October 3 to 31, 2026, the Japan Industrial Art Foundation will hold the inaugural Setouchi Industrial Art Festival 2026 at operating factories and industrial sites in Okayama and Ehime prefectures.

Together with seven participating companies and organizations, the foundation will transform active manufacturing and industrial sites into venues for a month-long art festival. This article introduces the purpose and key features of the inaugural event.

A Distributed Art Festival Across Operating Factories in Okayama and Ehime

The inaugural “Setouchi Industrial Art Festival 2026,” scheduled for autumn 2026, is a distributed art festival that uses operating factories and industrial sites as exhibition spaces, rather than conventional museums or galleries. The venues span Okayama City, Tamano City and Kurashiki City in Okayama Prefecture, as well as Toon City in Ehime Prefecture. Seven locally rooted companies and organizations are participating, with the project designed to turn the wider region into one large museum over the course of a month.

The concept for the festival was selected for two consecutive fiscal years under a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism initiative aimed at developing new regional and national legacies. Research and planning were subsequently carried out toward its realization.

In January 2025, ahead of the festival’s inaugural edition, a pilot tour was held at the factories of three local companies in Tamano, Okayama Prefecture. A total of 183 people participated over three days, and the tour received highly positive evaluations in participant surveys. Building on these results, the project has progressed to its official launch in October 2026.

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Background: Regional Manufacturing Faces Challenges in Workforce and Skills Succession

Manufacturing has supported Japan’s economy for many decades, but the industry is currently facing a prolonged period of stagnation that has lasted for more than 30 years. At the same time, declining birth rates, an aging population and the concentration of people in Tokyo have created a range of challenges for regional manufacturing, including shortages of workers and difficulties in passing specialized skills on to the next generation.

The festival has been conceived against a backdrop of concern over these challenges facing Japanese society. A cycle is needed in which manufacturers expand into regional areas, new capital is invested, employment is created and supply chains are developed. Attracting skilled talent to regional areas and revitalizing local economies could, in turn, contribute to the revitalization of Japan’s manufacturing sector as a whole.

Rather than viewing factories and plants solely as production sites, the project seeks to reinterpret them as cultural assets shaped by local history, technologies and the people who have worked there. This perspective is intended to serve as an important step toward generating new interest in regional industries.

Reinterpreting Industry Through the Eyes of Artists

The Japan Industrial Art Foundation’s concept of “industrial art” is an attempt to reinterpret the technologies, human activities and local histories accumulated at factories and industrial sites from the perspective of artists.

Industrial sites where efficiency and productivity are prioritized contain layers of accumulated history, from the skilled hands of craftspeople and massive industrial equipment to memories unique to each location.

By engaging directly with factories and plants and expressing their essence through their own artistic perspectives, artists can present familiar everyday landscapes from entirely new viewpoints. Complex manufacturing processes that may otherwise be difficult to understand can also become more intuitively engaging when viewed through the lens of art.

With the help of art, the doors to industrial sites that are normally closed to the public can be opened, creating new opportunities for people, including children who will shape the next generation, to encounter and engage with the industries rooted in their local communities.

What Kind of Exhibitions Will Be Presented?

A key feature of the festival is its presentation of site-specific artworks that can only be created and experienced in particular locations. Leading creators, including architect Kazuyo Sejima and curator Yuko Hasegawa, are involved in supervising the exhibitions, which will explore the context and characteristics of each site in depth.

A diverse range of participating companies will present artworks that draw on the characteristics of their respective industries.

In Toon City, Ehime Prefecture, Ohno Kaihatsu Co., Ltd. has supported the region’s environmental industries for half a century, with operations ranging from demolition and civil engineering to industrial waste treatment. Exhibitions involving architect Ryue Nishizawa and other creators will be presented at the company’s site.

In Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture, Fuji Clean Co., Ltd. works toward the realization of a circular society in which waste is transformed into resources. In Kurashiki City, the Kojima Jeans Street is known as the birthplace of Japanese-made jeans and is still home to numerous stores along its approximately 400-meter-long street.

Four companies from Tamano City will also participate. Naikai Salt Industries Co., Ltd. has carried on salt-making techniques developed through the relationship between the Setouchi Sea and the region’s history, with an exhibition by artist Motoi Yamamoto scheduled to be presented.

Other participating companies include Tombow Co., Ltd., one of Japan’s leading school uniform manufacturers with a history spanning 150 years; PowerX, Inc., which develops and manufactures storage batteries for the next generation of energy; and Mikuni Kogyo Co., Ltd., which produces large marine engine components and holds the leading domestic market share.

Could the Festival Attract International Art Fans and MICE Participants?

This is neither simply an art exhibition nor a factory tour. By using regional industries themselves as the stage, the festival seeks to communicate the appeal of Japanese manufacturing in a way that is engaging and accessible. This new form of art festival is emerging from the Setouchi region.

Japan has many regions with technologies and industries that can be showcased to an international audience. The festival could create new opportunities for visitors to encounter the technologies, history and industries rooted in these communities.

The “Setouchi International Art Festival 2025,” held across islands in the Setouchi region, attracted more than 1 million visitors in total. By combining this ability to attract visitors with local industries and companies, the festival could potentially introduce the appeal of the region to international art fans and others who have not previously had a connection with these communities but are interested in Japanese manufacturing.

The festival may also have potential as a component of post-MICE programs and incentive travel, offering business event participants an opportunity to experience local industry and culture in a setting that differs from conventional tourism.

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Setouchi Art and Industry 2026 (Setouchi Art and Industry 2026): Event Overview

• Dates: October 3 (Saturday)–October 31 (Saturday), 2026
• Venues: Seven factories and industrial sites operated by participating companies in Okayama Prefecture (Okayama City, Tamano City and Kurashiki City) and Toon City, Ehime Prefecture
• Organizer: Japan Industrial Art Foundation
• Participating companies and organizations (planned): Fuji Clean Co., Ltd.; Kojima Jeans Street Cooperative Association; Naikai Salt Industries Co., Ltd.; Tombow Co., Ltd.; PowerX, Inc.; Mikuni Kogyo Co., Ltd.; Ohno Kaihatsu Co., Ltd.
• Supporting organizations: Tamano City; TSC Television Setouchi; Dentsu West Japan Inc.; West Japan Railway Company, Okayama Branch; Ryobi Tours Co., Ltd.
• Visiting the exhibitions: Public opening hours vary by venue. Advance reservations will be required for all artworks, with visits planned through guided tours or individual tickets.
• Official website: https://www.sai-art.jp/