NESTA RESORT KOBE to Unveil Expo 2025 Legacy Wall “THE LOOP”

NESTA RESORT KOBE Co., Ltd. of Miki, Hyogo Prefecture, led by President and Representative Director Atsushi Tanaka, announced that it will unveil the mural artwork Legacy Wall “THE LOOP” inside the resort on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, with a completion ceremony to be held on the same day. The work uses 220 foundation concrete mega blocks from the Luxembourg Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, transferred from the Luxembourg Economic Interest Grouping (GIE), which operated the pavilion. Mural artist KAC has revived these materials as a wall artwork approximately 150 meters long. The project upcycles construction materials that had completed their role in the Luxembourg Pavilion, which was designed under the principle of “Circular by Design.” It embodies “regeneration and circulation” and “international co-creation” within NESTA RESORT KOBE’s 10th-anniversary brand concept, the “ARC Vision”: Adventure, Regeneration, and Co-Creation. It is also a legacy project that passes on the memory and spirit of the Expo to future generations, while marking a foundation of friendship between Japan and Luxembourg ahead of the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2027. The blocks, which once supported the Luxembourg Pavilion out of public view, now take on color under the light of NESTA RESORT KOBE’s new “SUNRISE ROAD” area, forming a single horizon. The completion ceremony is scheduled for May 26, 2026. The first part will be held from 11:00 to 12:00 in front of “THE LOOP” at NESTA RESORT KOBE’s second parking lot. Attendees will include Daniel Sahr, Director of the Luxembourg Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan; mural artist KAC; Kazuhiko Nakata, Mayor of Miki City, Hyogo Prefecture; and Atsushi Tanaka, Representative Director of NESTA RESORT KOBE. The program includes opening remarks, attendee introductions, greetings, a painting performance, photography and media coverage, and closing remarks. The second part, a reception party and media gathering, will be held from 12:30 to 14:00 at Camellia Hall inside Hotel The NESTA & Spa at NESTA RESORT KOBE. The concept of Expo 2025 Legacy Wall “THE LOOP” is: stones that once supported the earth now take on life; carrying prayers, they circulate from this horizon into the future. Regeneration means rebirth, and a passage to the next generation. This is not a work to be looked up at from afar. Visitors to NESTA RESORT KOBE will walk beside it, touch it, and pause near it. The work and people stand side by side on the same ground. Color inhabits the once-silent giant concrete blocks, and resources that might otherwise have been destroyed have been creatively transformed into an artwork, engraved along a path future generations will walk. Every color held in the concrete is a prayer for peace in the world and a quiet promise to an unseen future. The project reuses all 220 concrete mega blocks that served as the foundation of the Luxembourg Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, as retaining structures. Each block weighs approximately 2.4 tons, with a total weight of about 540 tons. They are then reborn as a large mural artwork through spray painting by mural artist KAC. Measuring approximately 150 meters in length and 1.6 meters in height, the work is installed in NESTA RESORT KOBE’s Sunrise Road area and can be viewed by general visitors at any time. In Japan, used foundation concrete mega blocks are normally crushed and processed as recycled aggregate. This is a form of downcycling that not only requires processing costs but also generates CO2 and dust during crushing and transportation. This project chose a completely different approach: transporting the concrete mega blocks in their original form and using them as materials for art. It is an upcycling effort that elevates industrial materials into an artwork and goes beyond simple reuse by adding the intangible value of Expo memories. Transferring the blocks to NESTA RESORT KOBE, located relatively close to the Expo site, also minimizes transportation costs and environmental impact. KAC’s role in this project is to breathe new cultural life into an industrial material: the foundation concrete mega blocks of an Expo pavilion. Active on urban walls and having completed numerous large-scale murals around the world, KAC’s spray-painting technique is well suited to the demanding conditions of an outdoor concrete wall approximately 150 meters long and 1.6 meters high. KAC is a mural artist who has continued to inscribe the philosophy “the eyes are the windows of the soul” onto city walls. The emotions held in human eyes cannot be captured by simple words such as joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure. KAC uses the motif of the eye as a device to visualize emotional nuances that transcend language. The eyes in KAC’s works are not facial features; they are mirrors reflecting the viewer’s inner self and quiet points of connection between people, and between individuals and society. KAC has created murals for Tsutenkaku, Kobe, and adidas athlete Hifumi Abe, designed official merchandise for the dome tour of leading Japanese rock band King Gnu, and exhibited at ART FAIR TOKYO and Kiaf SEOUL in South Korea. The artist has crossed boundaries from gallery walls to urban spaces and pop culture, while maintaining a consistent gaze: quietly planting meanings of regeneration, repair, and solidarity in a society where diverse individuals coexist. The Luxembourg Pavilion adopted “Circular by Design,” an approach based on circular economy principles that assumes disassembly and reuse from the design stage. From the beginning, the pavilion was conceived and designed so that all components could be reused within Japan after Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan. Modular design and dry-joint construction reduced the difficulty of dismantling as much as possible, and all components have been reused, from the foundation concrete mega blocks to the membrane roof, exterior panels, and steel structure. Under the theme “Doki Doki - The Luxembourg Heartbeat,” the pavilion shared the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg’s vision for sustainability and a circular society, offering visitors an experience designed to make their hearts beat with excitement. The membrane roof has been processed into bags and accessories by Osaka-based Mondo Design. The exterior wall panels are being reused by a Kyoto company as concrete formwork. The steel structure is scheduled to be repurposed in 2028 as a community space in Katano, Osaka Prefecture. All 220 foundation concrete mega blocks have been reborn as this artwork at NESTA RESORT KOBE. Every component is beginning a second life within Japan. NESTA RESORT KOBE opened in 2016 as a nature adventure theme park in Miki, Hyogo Prefecture. Across an expansive site of about 2.3 million square meters, equivalent to approximately 60 Koshien Stadiums, it operates a multifaceted resort business that includes activities, natural hot springs, glamping, a resort hotel, and restaurants. Marking its 10th anniversary, the resort has set out the “ARC Vision,” a brand concept built on Adventure, Regeneration, and Co-Creation, aiming to evolve into a next-generation theme park that connects society and future generations through experience. Expo 2025 Legacy Wall “THE LOOP” embodies the regeneration, circulation, and co-creation pillars of the ARC Vision. The ceremony details are current plans and may be subject to change.