OMA and Louis Vuitton unveil immersive exhibition at Nakanoshima Museum of Art

The Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka has opened its doors to Louis Vuitton: Visionary Journeys, a new large-scale exhibition designed by OMA and Shohei Shigematsu. The exhibition, running through September 17th, 2025, marks the first iteration of the Visionary Journeys series to be presented in a museum setting, adding to the ongoing collaboration between OMA and Louis Vuitton.

Spanning 22,000 square feet, the exhibition is organized into eleven thematic galleries structured across four narrative zones: brand history, iconic codes, artisanal processes, and cultural dialogues. Each room acts as a unique chapter in the fashion house’s story, combining immersive design and scenography.

The exhibition entrance features eight 40-foot-tall lanterns suspended within the museum’s atrium, composed of stacked, trunk-like forms wrapped in Monogram washi paper. The installation is designed to set the tone for a spatial journey defined by material invention and symbolic form.

Inside, a globe constructed from 138 original Louis Vuitton trunks is mirrored on the floor below, intended to reference the theme of exploration while demonstrating structural lightness. Other highlights include a dedicated gallery on Louis Vuitton’s cultural exchange with Japan, featuring traditional and contemporary artifacts displayed on tatami-inspired platforms.

The Origins gallery employs a hand-woven bamboo armature to narrate six historical eras, while other rooms explore materials, testing methods, and live artisan demonstrations in settings that reference the Asnières workshop and Parisian architecture. The exhibition culminates in a series of mirrored domes showcasing the label’s collaborations with artists including Yayoi Kusama, Takashi Murakami, and Stephen Sprouse.

“We approached the show as a spatial translation of Louis Vuitton’s legacy—a journey not just through objects but through ideas,” Shohei Shigematsu said about the exhibition. “The scenography celebrates the trunk not only as a container of belongings but as a vessel of imagination, stories, and cultural exchange. Osaka, with its historical role in trade and craftsmanship in Japan to the world, provided a fitting stage to explore and communicate the Maison’s identity – from its history of craftsmanship to the ever-expanding diversity of reinventions.”