The Oita Prefectural Art Museum (OPAM) will open on April 24, 2015. Construction is scheduled for completion at the end of October. A press conference unveiling the museum's outline was held in Tokyo on the 23rd.

The museum's core concept is "a museum that can be enjoyed with all five senses, where visitors can relax as if they were in their own living room, and that grows alongside the people of Oita Prefecture."

The museum was designed by Shigeru Ban, who won the Pritzker Prize in March of this year. Ban stated, "It is difficult for museums to continue operating solely on ticket sales from exhibitions. The diversification of museum programs and roles beyond exhibitions is a global trend." He stated his goal of creating a museum that is open to society, not just art lovers. The first-floor façade features folding doors that open and close, integrating indoor and outdoor spaces. Display panels can be freely positioned, allowing for flexible exhibitions. The signage, shop, and cafe counter fixtures are also movable, allowing for a constantly changing appearance. "Rather than a traditional art museum with a black box where the contents are hidden, we aimed to design a new, flexible museum unlike any other in the world," said Ban. The museum's director is Takashi Niimi, a professor at Musashino Art University who previously worked at the Seibu Museum of Art and the Sezon Museum of Art. Niimi explained his intention to operate OPAM as "a cultural facility that proposes new lifestyles, rather than a museum," and explained the upcoming exhibitions, which will rotate four times a year. "Oita Prefecture is home to approximately 4,000 works by modern and contemporary artists with ties to Oita, housed at the Oita Prefectural Art Center. Our first goal is to fully utilize these works, which have not been effectively utilized since the art center's founding in 1977," he said. "By interweaving these works with Western masterpieces and contemporary works, we will plan unique art exhibitions that are different from traditional exhibitions." For example, visitors will be able to see an exhibit featuring Oita's Buddhist art alongside works by Gustav Klimt. While regional art museums often host traveling exhibitions that simply showcase works from other museums, OPAM refuses to be a receptacle for such exhibitions, instead focusing on its own unique content. "Oita boasts world-class modern art that goes beyond the work of local artists like Tatsuo Takayama and Teppei Ujiyama. By juxtaposing these works with works from other genres and exhibiting them in a unique way, we promise to create a unique museum unlike anything you'll see at Kanazawa (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art), Setouchi (Naoshima), Aomori (Prefectural Museum of Art), the Museum of Modern Art in New York, or Pompidou-Metz (France), a one-of-a-kind museum—the most interesting in Japan, if not the world!" In addition, OPAM plans to host live and dance performances that extend beyond art, creating an "open museum"-like experience. OPAM marks the first prefectural art museum in Japan to open in nine years, since the Aomori Museum of Art opened in 2006. The museum shop and cafe will also showcase Oita's local flavor by offering products and ingredients from Oita. Just as the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain was a success, drawing visitors, and the Pompidou-Metz Museum helped revitalize the region, it's hoped that Shigeru Ban's architecture will itself become a tourist attraction for Oita, fostering the development of local industries and generating economic benefits. Niimi's curation, which goes one step beyond the typical "brand museum" concept, is attracting attention. Leading up to the grand opening, various events will be held from November 23rd to 30th, titled the "OPAM Birthday Festival."