The HEMP – Back to the Future exhibition makes its international debut at the Romanian Pavilion at World Expo 2025 Osaka on September 12 and will be open to the public until October 13, 2025.
Organized by the Ivan Patzaichin Association – Mila 23 and the Băița Textile Museum, the exhibition is presented in Japan by the Bucharest City Hall and CREART – the Center for Creation, Art and Tradition of the Municipality of Bucharest, in partnership with the Romanian Cultural Institute, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania and the Romanian Embassy in Japan. The exhibition investigates the tangible and intangible heritage of the hemp plant, highlighting its potential as a renewable raw material, a cultural symbol and a resource for the design of the future, while strengthening Romania’s profile as an active actor in international cultural exchanges.
The project offers the public an experience of intercultural dialogue through the exhibition of Romanian and Japanese heritage pieces, contemporary artistic installations and a research album on the theme of traditional costumes from Romania and Japan, signed by Dr. Florica Zaharia and Midori Sato. The international opening of this reflection of the heritage of the two cultures follows the national stage at the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant in Bucharest, where the exhibition “In(toarcem) cânepa spre viitor” was exhibited for the first time and documented in direct contact with the Romanian public.
The exhibition concept is the result of the collaboration between Teodor Frolu (curator, Ivan Patzaichin Association – Mila 23) and Dr. Florica Zaharia (researcher and conservator emerita, Textile Museum in Băița), which combines the contemporary perspective with the documentary-heritage one, defining elements for CREART’s institutional mission to preserve and valorize Romanian traditions and promote them in international contexts. The exhibition brings together samples and objects of textile heritage (traditional costumes, fabrics, instruments) from the collections of the Textile Museum, contemporary hemp clothing creations and a textile installation signed by Oláh Gyárfás (PATZAIKIN), along with multimedia contributions made by Dan Vezentan and Dilmana Yordanova.
The exhibition opening will take place on Friday, September 12, at 3:00 PM (local time), in the Romanian Pavilion at World Expo 2025 Osaka, in the presence of the curatorial team and institutional partners.
