On Friday, December 5, 2025, Loftwork Shibuya hosted the “Year End Party 2025” (hereafter “YEP”). This year’s theme was Openness. Since its founding 25 years ago, Loftwork has cherished the idea of “Openness”—the act of opening things up. By embracing openness, the company has expanded future possibilities and cultivated encounters that go beyond imagination. It is a value that deeply resonates with what AWRD has long championed as well.
In this article, from AWRD’s perspective, we highlight the day’s key moments and exhibitions to explore the creative possibilities that Openness brought to life.
A Night Where Diverse Creative Programs Intertwine
Loftwork Shibuya, the venue for YEP, was filled with exhibitions and installations spread across floors 1 to 3 and 10, each showcasing a year’s worth of projects and achievements. From the moment the doors opened in the early evening, the venue was buzzing with energy and excitement.
1F: Talk sessions and exhibits by FabCafe
2F: Exhibitions by MTRL, Hidakuma, and the SPCS team
3F: Displays by LAYOUT and YUEN, collaborative installations with partner companies, AWRD showcases, and a “Deconstruction Bar”
10F: Collaborative exhibitions by MVMNT and NINE with partner companies, plus a dining experience presented by FabCafe Osaka
Each floor offered its own distinct world, allowing visitors to enjoy new experiences every time they moved through the space. As they wandered freely, guests engaged with the installations, sparking fresh conversations and discoveries along the way.
“Openness” Materialized: An AWRD Showcase at the Intersection of Now and the Future
On the 3rd floor, the AWRD booth featured panel displays highlighting a selection of projects that have been hosted on the AWRD platform. The exhibition visualized the core purpose of AWRD’s open calls—opening up challenges and inviting external talent to co-create new possibilities.
Visitors could also enjoy limited-edition capsule toys from the “Kodomo Gucha-Gucha Art Award (Children’s Messy Art Award)” originally held at FabCafe Nagoya, as well as participate in an interactive workshop where they wrote “open ideas” on paper airplanes and added them to a collective board. The booth was filled with playful touches that made everyone want to jump in and participate.
Clues for the Cities of Tomorrow — Introducing “RED SPACE MUTATIONS,” Launching in 2026
Next to the AWRD booth, an exhibition introducing “RED SPACE” and the upcoming open call “RED SPACE MUTATIONS” drew significant attention from visitors.
Telephone booths, gas stations, office buildings, shopping malls—standardized spaces that spread throughout cities during the modernization of the 20th century. Many of these spaces have begun to lose their former roles amid major social shifts such as digitalization and population change. Recognizing this, the project calls these disappearing sites Endangered Urban Spaces (RED SPACE) and seeks not to simply watch them fade away, but to reexamine them as hints for the urban landscapes of the future.
“RED SPACE MUTATIONS” is an open call that injects creativity into these RED SPACES, prompting them to “mutate” and unlock new possibilities for the cities of tomorrow. Scheduled to launch in spring 2026, the initiative made its very first public appearance at this year’s YEP.
New Conversations and Encounters Sparked by Openness
At the AWRD booth, the project displays naturally prompted visitors to strike up conversations and exchange ideas with one another. It was a night that revealed how the AWRD online platform is evolving—opening up from a “place for projects” into a “place for dialogue.”
This year’s YEP offered a tangible, multi-dimensional experience of the value AWRD holds dear: Openness, the act of opening up.
In 2026, beginning with “RED SPACE MUTATIONS,” AWRD will continue expanding the possibilities of creation by connecting with an even wider range of fields, countries, and communities.
AWRD will keep practicing Openness—
to encounter talents and projects we have yet to meet,
and to build futures that none of us could reach alone.
We look forward to continuing this journey with all of you in the year ahead.
Coming Soon: “RED SPACE MUTATIONS” — An Open Call for Ideas That Transform Endangered Spaces for the Next Era
An open call for ideas that mutate endangered urban spaces and help them adapt to the next era
“RED SPACE MUTATIONS”
Open call scheduled to begin in April 2026
Teaser site:https://awrd.com/award/red-space
