Art Fair Beppu Spring 2027 will be held for three days, from Saturday, January 30 to Monday, February 1, 2027, in Beppu, Oita Prefecture, one of the world's leading hot spring destinations, which draws many visitors from Japan and abroad. The fair is organized by the Mixed Bathing World Executive Committee (混浴温泉世界実行委員会), and its 39 participating artists and artist groups have now been confirmed.
Starting with this edition, artists based not only in Japan but also in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia will take part. Artists recommended by cultural and arts organizations in Seoul, Tainan, and Bangkok will also join, bringing a wide range of artistic expression to Beppu. The fair will be held at five venues unique to Beppu, including a community hot spring that has been in use since the Taisho era, so visitors can encounter works and artists while walking around the town.
Early-bird tickets, as well as tickets that include a hot spring bath voucher, are on sale from Friday, October 23, 2026.
39 Artists and Artist Groups Confirmed
The 39 artists and artist groups are based in Japan and in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia, and the lineup includes artists recommended by partner organizations in Asia. During the fair, the artists will stay at the venues, talk with visitors, and present and sell their works.
Participating artists (Japanese names in parentheses where applicable)
- Ain (アイン) — Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Art House 88 (アートハウス88) — Fukuoka. Artists: Ushijima Tomoko (牛島智子), Sameshima Kotoe (さめしまことえ)
- Aso Akari (麻生あかり) — Oita
- D-jai Kosiyabong (D-ジャイ・コシヤボン) — Bangkok, Thailand (recommended by SAC Gallery)
- Goto Takuro (後藤拓朗) — Yamagata
- Hiraoka Mao (平岡真生) — Hyogo
- Hirayama Takumi (平山匠) — Tokyo
- Ibanjiha (イバンジハ) — Seoul, South Korea (recommended by Yellow Pen Club (YPC))
- Kobayashi Muku (小林椋) — Tokyo
- Kosaka Misuzu (こさかみすず) — Osaka
- Kurachi Tomonosuke (倉知朋之介) — Tokyo
- Le Giang (レー・ザン) — Hanoi, Vietnam
- Lin Ying-Chieh (林盈潔 リン・イン・チェ) — Tainan, Taiwan (recommended by Zit-Dim Art Space)
- Lui Gonzales (ルイ・ゴンザレス) — Manila, Philippines
- Maharani Mancanagara & Nurrachmat Widyasena (マハラニ・マンチャナガラ ＆ ヌラフマット・ウィディヤセナ) — Bandung, Indonesia
- Maruyama Nodoka (丸山のどか) — Aichi
- Morishita Akane (森下明音) — Oita
- Nakabayashi Arisa (ナカバヤシアリサ) — Kanagawa
- Nakaya Yuki (中谷優希) — Tokyo
- Nitta Yuki (新田優貴) — Oita
- 野口竜平 — Oita
- Nomura Yuka (野村由香) — Kyoto
- Onsen Dye Lab Yukihashi Tomohiko (温泉染研究所 行橋智彦) — Oita
- Posak Jodian (ポサック・ジョディアン) — Taipei, Taiwan
- Prannjali V (プランジャリ・ V) — Raipur, India
- Ruang Arta Derau — Bali, Indonesia. Artists: Sekarputi Sidhiawati (セカルプティ・シディアワティ), Agung (アグン), Rice Paddy Field Forever (ライス・パディ・フィールド・フォーエバー), Arta Derau Ceramic × Satya Bhuana (アルタ・デラウ・セラミック × サティア・ブアナ)
- Seokwoo Song (ソン・ソグ) — Seoul, South Korea
- Shibata Mao (柴田まお) — Tokyo
- Shinno Rie (神農理恵) — Tokyo
- Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver (シュウゾウ・アヅチ・ガリバー) — Tokyo
- soda — Kyoto
- SURVIVE! Attack × Pop Art Merch by SURVIVE! Garage — Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Artists: Awanda B Destia (アワンダ・B・デスティア), Bayu Widodo (バユ・ウィドド), Ervance Havefun (エルヴァンス・ハヴ・ファン), Fitri DK (フィトリ・DK), Gilang WF (ギラン・WF), Panqestumu (パンケストゥム), Rachmad Affandi (ラチュマド・アファンディ), YaGalih (ヤガリ), and others
- Suzuki (鈴木) — Oita
- Suzuki Yuya (鈴木悠哉) — Hokkaido
- Takeuchi Takako (武内貴子) — Fukuoka
- Tamura Yuichiro (田村友一郎) — Kyoto
- Tang Tsz Wai Cheri (タン・ジー・ワイ・シェリ) — Hong Kong
- Toyama Miyabi (遠山雅) — Hiroshima
- Urakami Mana (浦上真奈) — Hiroshima
Hiraoka Mao, Someone Watching from the Other Side (向こう側でこちらを眺めている人), 2025. Photo: Fujita Tomoya (藤田智也)
Nomura Yuka, A Small Work for "Planet Underfoot" (《足もとの惑星》のための小作品), 2024
Morishita Akane, Kx, 2026
Tamura Yuichiro, IC XC NIKA／神は勝利された, 2022
Ibanjiha, Hobo_Space 1, 2026
Prannjali V, Qilin, 2026
Ain, Dinda Yang Jauh | The Distant Little One, 2025
Bayu Widodo, Peringatan #1, 2026
Nominating Partners
Beppu aims to become a hub for exchange in Asia's art network, and the fair collaborates with cultural and arts organizations across Asia to deepen exchange. This year, organizations based in Seoul, Tainan, and Bangkok were selected as Nominating Partners. In addition to inviting the artists recommended by each organization, the fair will invite the organizations themselves during the event to exchange views on future collaboration.
- SAC Gallery (Bangkok, Thailand): https://sac.gallery/
- Yellow Pen Club (YPC) (Seoul, South Korea): https://yellowpenclub.com/
- Zit-Dim Art Space (Tainan, Taiwan): https://www.instagram.com/zitdimartspace/
SAC Gallery
Yellow Pen Club (YPC)
Zit-Dim Art Space
Five Venues Unique to Beppu
Beppu is home to a variety of cultural resources, from historic prewar buildings and alleys to art spaces that have appeared in recent years. The fair makes use of these resources and takes place at five venues in the central urban area of Beppu. It is a walk-through-the-town art fair where visitors can experience not only the artworks but also the appeal of the town itself.
Ekimae Koto Onsen (Community-Run), 2nd Floor (駅前高等温泉(町営) ２階)
This community-run hot spring was built in the Taisho era and is more than 100 years old, with a retro exterior in the style of a Taisho-era Western-style building that catches the eye. Visitors can enjoy two types of baths, a "hot" bath (atsu-yu, あつ湯) and a "lukewarm" bath (nuru-yu, ぬる湯). The lodging facility on the second floor of the hot spring will serve as a venue.
Amu
Amu is a new unmanned hotel that opened in May 2026. Themed around weaving together Beppu's travel, people, and soil, it was created in the hope that visitors will discover what makes the town interesting. The guest rooms on the first floor will serve as a venue.
Tokiwa Beppu Store, West Building 4th Floor (トキハ別府店 西館４階)
This department store, which has been loved by locals in Oita since it opened in 1988, stands in the center of Beppu and is busy with local residents and with travelers looking for souvenirs. The event space on the 4th floor will serve as a venue.
New Tsuruta Building, 1st Floor (ニューツルタビル１階)
This long-established building stands in Kitahama, the downtown district that stretches from Beppu Station toward the sea. It once housed well-known establishments that brightened the night. For the duration of the fair only, its first-floor space, in its pre-renovation state, will be transformed into a special space for the art fair.
Takegawara Onsen, 2nd Floor, Motomachi Community Hall (竹瓦温泉２階 元町公民館)
Founded in 1879, this hot spring took on its current form, with a grand karahafu (curved gable) roof, in 1938, and serves as a symbol of Beppu. Many tourists visit to enjoy its famous sand baths. The large hall of the Motomachi Community Hall on the second floor will serve as a venue.
Note: To let visitors experience the appeal of Beppu more deeply, the fair is held in symbolic and distinctive locations unique to the area. Some venues have uneven ground, steps, or stairs, and some have no elevator.
The Directors
Four directors based in Japan and overseas will handle everything from selecting the artists to designing the venues.
From left: Ieiri Kensei, Nguyễn Tú Hằng, Nakamura Kyoko, and Tsutsumi Takuya. Photo: Yano Tetsunori
Tsutsumi Takuya (堤 拓也)
Co-Program Director of Yamanaka Suplex (山中suplex) and Program Director of ICA Kyoto (ICA京都).
Born in 1987 and based in the Kansai region. He completed graduate studies in Cultural Studies at Adam Mickiewicz University in 2019. Beyond planning and organizing exhibitions, he creates one-time experiences that include performances and events, and he is interested in non-institutional and alternative art practices, mainly in Asia. His main directing and curatorial work includes:
- シェアミーティング3「地震、雷、火事、親父、病原菌から生まれ出る美術」 (Share Meeting 3, "Art Born from Earthquakes, Thunder, Fire, Fathers, and Pathogens") (Malaysia, 2026)
- KYOTO EXPERIMENT 2024/2025 "Echoes Now" (Kyoto)
- MEET YOUR ART FESTIVAL 2024 "SSS: Super Spectrum Specification" (Tokyo)
- 鬼丘鬼鏟「時間的臨摹」 (Kyoto, 2023)
- 山下拓也 solo exhibition 「闇が抱える光：熊、ムンク、チーズバーガー、他」 (Taipei, 2023)
- 飯川雄大 exhibition 「デコレータークラブ：未来のための定規と縄」 (Kagoshima, 2023)
- International Art Festival "Aichi 2022" (国際芸術祭「あいち2022」) (2022)
- Drive-in exhibition 「類比の鏡」 (Shiga, 2020)
He has been Program Director of Yamanaka Suplex since 2018 (Co-Program Director since 2024), Program Director of ICA Kyoto since 2025, and an associate professor at Kyoto University of the Arts (京都芸術大学).
Nguyễn Tú Hằng (グエン・トゥ・ハン)
Director of Hanoi Grapevine.
Founder of the Artist-in-Residence Vietnam Network (AiRViNe), which conducts research on cultural mobility and artist-in-residence programs. She is also Director of Hanoi Grapevine, a nonprofit organization that supports artists' ecosystems. She earned a bachelor's degree in international management at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) and a master's degree in international business and East Asian studies at Sogang University in South Korea. From 2020 to 2023, she served as Education Curator at the Vincom Center for Contemporary Art (VCCA), and in 2023 she co-founded ddur.production, an open collective that provides specialized support for exhibition projects. In 2024, she received a special award in the Professional Exchange Program for Southeast Asian Arts and Culture Practitioners 2024 (東南アジア芸術文化実務者プロフェッショナル交流プログラム2024) run by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation (台湾アジア交流基金会). The same year, she was selected for a tangible cultural property conservation and restoration fellowship run by the Korea National University of Cultural Heritage (韓国伝統文化大学校), and in 2025 she was selected for the Japan Foundation's Asia Culture and Arts Fellowship (Fine Arts) (国際交流基金のアジア文化芸術フェローシップ(美術)).
Nakamura Kyoko (中村恭子)
Representative Director of BEPPU PROJECT.
Born in 1979 in Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture. After working at a trading company, she worked from 2005 at an arts NPO, managing small theaters and other venues in Fukuoka. In 2007, she took part in an arts management training program at Setagaya Public Theatre. From 2008, she worked as a project coordinator at the Fukuoka Cultural Arts Promotion Foundation (福岡市文化芸術振興財団), mainly handling performing arts projects, and from 2013 she worked as a freelance producer and coordinator. After working in various places, including serving as coordinator of the Japan-Korea Joint Production Project (2013-2015) in Fukuoka City and of the performing arts section of Mixed Bathing World (Beppu, 2015), she joined the NPO BEPPU PROJECT in April 2017. There she was in charge of CREATIVE PLATFORM OITA and the Kitsuki City leading project of the 33rd National Culture Festival, Oita 2018 (第33回国民文化祭・おおいた2018), among others. She worked as Secretary General from April 2020 and has held her current post since April 2022. Since the launch of Art Fair Beppu in 2023, she has been involved in the fair's direction. She lives in Beppu, Oita Prefecture.
Ieiri Kensei (家入健生)
Director of BEPPU PROJECT.
Born in Kumamoto in 1987 and a graduate of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU). While still a student, he worked with BEPPU PROJECT on the international art festival Mixed Bathing World (Beppu, 2009 and 2012) and on running artist-in-residence (AIR) programs. From 2013, he worked as a curator at Arts Maebashi, handling projects in collaboration with the community and AIR programs, and together with artists he launched and ran the art space Maebashi Works, which combines housing, studios, and a gallery. He has held his current post since 2018. Exhibitions he has handled include 「梅田哲也 イン 別府『O滞』」 (2020) and 「塩田千春展『巡る記憶』」 (Beppu, 2022). He is also involved in AIR programs, projects to encourage artists to relocate and settle in the area, and the creation of studios through the renovation of vacant houses. In 2023, he and fellow members established and now run Art&Garden Nekoze (Art&Garden ねこぜ), an alternative space with a garden. Through planning and running exhibitions, artist-in-residence programs, and art fairs, he works to build environments for artists' activities in regional areas and a cultural and arts platform that connects the region with Japan and the world.
Tickets: Early-Bird Sales From Friday, October 23
Early-bird tickets offering savings of up to ¥1,000 are on sale from Friday, October 23. A ticket unique to Beppu, the "Wakuwaku! Beppu Ticket with Hot Spring Bath Voucher" (わくわく！別府 温泉入浴券付きチケット), is also available. Beppu has long prospered as a hot spring town, and communities centered on public hot springs still remain there today. The ticket lets visitors enjoy that appeal of Beppu together with the art fair.
Early-bird tickets (sales period: Friday, October 23 to Monday, November 30, 2026)
- Early-bird ticket: ¥1,500
- Wakuwaku! Beppu Ticket with Hot Spring Bath Voucher: ¥1,700
Advance tickets (sales period: Tuesday, December 1, 2026 to Friday, January 29, 2027)
- Advance ticket: ¥2,000
- Wakuwaku! Beppu Ticket with Hot Spring Bath Voucher: ¥2,200
Same-day tickets (sales period: Saturday, January 30 to Monday, February 1, 2027)
- Same-day ticket: ¥2,500
- Wakuwaku! Beppu Ticket with Hot Spring Bath Voucher: ¥2,700
Ticket notes:
- Tickets allow unlimited entry to all of the fair's venues during the event.
- Junior high school students and younger can enter the art fair free of charge when accompanied by an adult.
- Visitors with a disability certificate and their assistant (up to one person) are admitted free of charge.
- The "Wakuwaku! Beppu Ticket with Hot Spring Bath Voucher" allows one person per ticket to bathe once during the event at one of the designated hot springs.
- The designated hot springs are Ekimae Koto Onsen (駅前高等温泉), Kaimonji Onsen (海門寺温泉), Tanoyu Onsen (田の湯温泉), Takegawara Onsen (竹瓦温泉, sand baths excluded), Nagaishi Onsen (永石温泉), and Furosen (不老泉).
- Bath vouchers are handed out at the reception desk of the art fair venues.
Where to buy
- ArtSticker (online)
- SELECT BEPPU (Beppu, Oita)
- WANDER COMPASS BEPPU (Beppu, Oita)
- Tokiwa Kaikan Playguide (トキハ会館プレイガイド) (Oita City, Oita), TEL: 097-538-3111
Free Student Ticket Support System "AFBS Mira-Chike"
At Art Fair Beppu Spring 2027, the organizers believe that art, which keeps questioning contemporary society from many angles and from perspectives unbound by conventional wisdom, can freely open up the way people think and see. They are therefore offering "AFBS Mira-Chike" (AFBSミラチケ), a support system that gives free invitation tickets to high school and university students across Japan, in the hope that the young people who will shape the society of the future will encounter diverse works and artists at the fair. Tickets are given out to pre-registered applicants on a first-come, first-served basis, and registration closes once the maximum number of tickets is reached.
The pre-registration form for the "AFBS Mira-Chike" free invitation tickets is scheduled to be announced on the official website and social media.
Key Visual
The key visual for Art Fair Beppu Spring 2027 was created by designer Inoshita Yu (井下 悠, INOSHITA DESIGN), who is based in Oita Prefecture and works widely in graphic design, brand development for companies and shops, and product development. It will be used across a variety of settings, including the art fair venues and printed materials.
Starting from the characters for "Beppu" (別府), the visual depicts colorful steam rising from the hot springs. The vivid colors represent the individuality of the diverse artists, and the ever-changing forms depict free and rich expression spreading beyond existing frameworks.
Inoshita Yu (井下 悠, INOSHITA DESIGN)
Based in Oita City, Oita Prefecture. Received the Semi-Grand Prix in the 2016 Tokyo Midtown Award Design Competition and the 2017 Good Design Award. Selected for the 2018 JAGDA Graphic Design in Japan (with This One!) and nominated for the JAGDA Award. Received the Theme Award at the 2025 Tokyo Business Design Award.
Event Overview
Name: Art Fair Beppu Spring 2027
Dates: Saturday, January 30, Sunday, January 31, and Monday, February 1, 2027
Hours: 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM (last entry 4:30 PM)
Venues: Various locations in the central urban area of Beppu, Oita Prefecture
Directors:
- Tsutsumi Takuya (Co-Program Director of Yamanaka Suplex, Program Director of ICA Kyoto)
- Nguyễn Tú Hằng (Director of Hanoi Grapevine)
- Nakamura Kyoko (Representative Director of BEPPU PROJECT)
- Ieiri Kensei (Director of BEPPU PROJECT)
Exhibition space advisor: Isayama Genki (諫山元貴) (Studio Pink House, スタジオピンクハウス)
Venue construction: Studio Pink House (スタジオピンクハウス)
Design: Inoshita Yu (井下 悠) (INOSHITA DESIGN)
Food and shop relations: Fukagawa Kenzo (深川謙蔵) (AKANEKO)
Production and management: アンジェルッチ 二三郎, Ando Yukihiro (安藤行宥) (TENIMAME Art Management, てにまめアートマネジメント), Fukuda Naoko (福田尚子) (Kureai), Murotani Tomoko (室谷智子)
Organizer: Mixed Bathing World Executive Committee (混浴温泉世界実行委員会)
Secretariat: NPO BEPPU PROJECT
Grant: Agency for Cultural Affairs, FY2026 (Reiwa 8) Cultural Resource Utilization Promotion Project (令和８年度 文化庁文化資源活用推進事業)
Website: https://artfairbeppu.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/art_fair_beppu/
Related Project: GENSEN HOOK
A project by Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group will be held around the same time. In January 2027, visitors can come to Beppu, a town of art.
GENSEN HOOK
Exhibition period: Friday, January 29 to Sunday, March 7, 2027
Venues: Beppu City Art Museum (別府市美術館), various locations in Beppu, Oita Prefecture, and others
Official website: https://gensen-mbw.com/
Organizer: Mixed Bathing World Executive Committee
Director: Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group
Project artists (partial list; additional announcements to come): 会田 誠, 遠藤一郎, 岡 啓輔, カルロス (存在飯店), 小泉 今日子, 涌井智仁, 渡辺 志桜里, and others
