Living harmoniously in a fractured world

How can we live harmoniously in a fractured world? Join us this October for a three-day event exploring how we can live better together.

Living better together

How can we live more harmoniously in a fractured world? Join us this October for a three-day event exploring how we can live better together – across cultures, borders, identities, and bodies.

Through conversation, performance, and creative exchange, we’ll celebrate the many ways art, movement, and human connection can foster inclusion and peace in a fractious world.

The RSA Pavilion is an off-site companion to the 2025 World Expo Osaka – a space to connect with peers, make connections and engage in conversations that go beyond the surface. Fellows of the RSA who are showcasing their work will invite you to reflect, share, and explore what it means to live harmoniously in today’s complex world.

Themes

The RSA showcase will explore wide-ranging themes affecting communities across the globe:

Cross-cultural connection

From tea ceremonies to powerful storytelling of textile legacies, how do we honour and learn from one another’s traditions?

International relations and peacebuilding

Art and sound as acts of remembrance and healing in a post-conflict world.

Embodied communication

What does it mean to connect beyond words? Explore how our physical presence shapes understanding.

Featured performances and works

• Charlotte Cory FRSA: Six Months of Dreaming – Join us for a quintessentially British afternoon tea and a reimagining of Japanese designer Yutaka Kajikawa’s forgotten Art Deco textile dreams.
• John Biddulph FRSA & Emi Sisk FRSA: Sound and Vision for Peace – An immersive sound piece and reflective artworks honouring the 80th anniversary of Hiroshima.
• Kaoruco & Api-Lucky: Radical Connection in Motion – A joyful and expressive dance piece by an inclusive performance group, blending movement, improvisation, and radical connection.
• Kaz Yoneda FRSA: In-between-ness – A thought-provoking talk on how architecture in Japan shapes the way we live, connect, and experience space.
• Kristin Engvig FRSA: Wisdom Across Cultures – The founder of Women International Networking explores how cross-cultural collaboration can expand harmony and humanise our work and lives.
• Tania Coke FRSA and Kentaro Suyama (tarinainanika theatre company): The Thinking Body – performance and talk highlighting the power of the human body to express and connect, drawing on the theatrical tradition of Corporeal Mime.
• Dr Rachel Sweeney (Schumacher WILD): Weaving more than Human Stories – a practical movement-based workshop introducing creative, nature-based learning approaches that foster a deeper understanding of our interconnected world.
• Akane Hiraoka FRSA: AI-Driven Industries — an interactive art showcase that reimagines how AI and real-time media create new ways of experiencing art, blurring the line between technology and creativity.
• Nick Luscombe FRSA: Deep Listening – an invitation into a practice of deep listening, combining guided listening exercises with immersive soundscapes.
• Imogen Bakelmun, Global 50/50: This is Gender: Photography on the frontlines of justice. 75 original artworks from around the world exploring the intersections of identity, visibility and justice.

Proudly partnering with Flying Carpet Factory

View directions to the venue on YouTube here.

Full event programme

Friday 3 October

• 6pm – Doors open
• 6.30pm – Charlotte Cory FRSA: Six Months of Dreaming
• 7pm – Welcome to the RSA – Jessica Robson
• 7.15pm – Rachel Sweeney: Weaving more than Human Stories
• 8pm – John Biddulph FRSA & Emi Sisk FRSA: Sound and Vision for Peace
• 9pm – Farewells

Saturday 4 October

• 2.30pm – Doors open
• 3pm – Charlotte Cory FRSA: Six Months of Dreaming
• 4pm – Welcome to the RSA – Jessica Robson
• 4.30pm – Kristin Engvig FRSA: Wisdom Across Cultures
• 5pm – Tania Coke FRSA and Kentaro Suyama / tarinainanika theatre company: The Thinking Body
• 5.45pm – Imogen Bakelmun, Global 50/50: This is Gender: Photography on the frontlines of justice.
• 6.15pm – Networking and cocktails
• 7.30pm – Farewells

Sunday 5 October

• 1pm – Welcome in! Doors open.
• 1.30pm – Nick Luscombe FRSA: Deep Listening
• 2pm- Charlotte Cory FRSA: Six Months of Dreaming
• 3pm – Welcome to the RSA – Jessica Robson
• 3.30pm – Kaz Yoneda FRSA: In-between-ness
• 4pm – Akane Hiraoka FRSA: AI Driven Industries
• 4.30pm – Kaoruco & Api-Lucky: Radical Connection in Motion
• 5.30pm – Farewells