The Theme is Pulse

Design studio GSM Project and visual artist Justine Emard have created Pulsations, the visitor experience at the France Pavilion at this year’s Universal Exposition, Osaka 2025, which is running from April 13 to October 13, 2025. Aiming to delight the pavilion’s expected three million visitors, the experience is an immersion in the spirit of France, under the unifying theme of the pulse as the common denominator between humanity, technology and nature.

EXPO2025_Pavilion_France_Exterior facade_day_Architecture Coldefy+Carlo Ratti Associati
Photo credit: Julien Lanoo

EXPO 2025_Pavilion_France_Interior Exhibition_PULSATIONS-Across the Archipelago, the Great Pulsation-Design_GSM Project_Emard Photo credit: Julien Lanoo

EXPO 2025_Pavilion_France_Interior Exhibition_PULSATIONS-Across the Archipelago, the Great Pulsation-Design_GSM Project_Emard
Photo credit: Justine Emard

GSM and Justine Emard worked together to co-create the overall narrative for the permanent exhibition and the tableaux comprising it. They formulated artistic and scenographic principles for the experience, with the unifying theme of the pulse.

Pulsations: Making Hearts Beat

Justine Emard drew inspiration from the Japanese legend of Akai Ito, the red thread of fate, to develop the concept for the experience around the theme proposed by France: “A hymn to love.” Legend has it that an invisible thread tied to our little finger connects us to another being and sets our fate. The legend enabled the artist and the studio to develop experience principles along several distinct lines: the red thread, the hand and the beating heart. These principles influenced the concept for the exhibition, titled Pulsations.

EXPO 2025_Pavilion_France_Interior Exhibition_PULSATIONS_Across the Archipelago, the Great Pulsation-Design_GSM Project_Emard Photo credit: Julien Lanoo

EXPO 2025_Pavilion_France_Interior Exhibition_PULSATIONS_Across the Archipelago, the Great Pulsation-Design_GSM Project_Emard Photo credit: Julien Lanoo

EXPO 2025_Pavilion_France_Interior Exhibition_PULSATIONS_Across the Archipelago, the Great Pulsation-Design_GSM Project_Emard Photo credit: Julien Lanoo

Celebrating Past and Present Heritage

In the exhibition, heritage elements are seen alongside contemporary creations – everything from sculptures by Rodin to a chimera rescued from the fire that engulfed Notre-Dame Cathedral to digital art installations imagined by Justine Emard and GSM. Each artistic medium is meticulously synchronized to create a total artistic experience that immerses visitors in the energy of the pulse.

EXPO 2025_Pavilion_France_Interior Exhibition_PULSATIONS_Across the Archipelago, the Great Pulsation-Design_GSM Project_Emard Photo credit: Julien Lanoo

EXPO2025_Pavilion_France_Intérieure- Exposition_PULSATIONS-A Descent into the Heart of the Earth_Design_GSM Project_Emard Photo credit: Justine Emard

EXPO 2025_Pavilion_France_Exhibition_PULSATIONS_A Magical Encounter at the Threshold of the Exhibition Photo credit: Justine Emard

In the final space, the duo created a tableau titled “Across the Archipelago, the Great Pulsation.” Combining heritage pieces and a multimedia show, the installation is a powerful final immersion in the concept of love. Composed of three conceptual islands depicting the powerful bonds connecting France and Japan through cultural and natural symbols, this archipelago illustrates the ways in which the two countries approach heritage preservation and the protection of biodiversity. The islands present a narrative linking works rescued from the fires at Shuri Castle and Notre-Dame Cathedral; connecting the histories of the sanctuary of Itsukushima and its famous torii with the Abbey of Mont Saint-Michel; and creating an encounter between the ecosystems of Japan and French Polynesia. France and Japan thus resonate together in an emotionally rich imagining of the future.

GSM Project

GSM Project is a design studio specializing in the creation of visitor and exhibition experiences. With over 65 years of experience and 1,000 projects in more than 120 cities worldwide, GSM has teams based in Montreal, Singapore and Paris. The studio is acclaimed for its work on the observation experience at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai; the marquee Star WarsTM interactive exhibition Identities, which has toured internationally for more than ten years; and for its collaborations with major museums including the National Museum of Singapore, the Asian Civilizations Museum, the Canadian Museum of History and Pointe-à-Callière.

Justine Emard

Justine Emard is a visual artist whose work explores new relationships between our lives and technology through combinations of digital installations, films, performances and virtual reality. The starting points for her pieces are Deep Learning experiments and the human-machine dialogue. She has exhibited her work in prestigious institutions around the world, including the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo and the Barbican Centre in London. She has won several awards and residencies, and was named to France’s list of “100 women of culture” in 2023. In 2021-22 and 2023-24, she was guest artist-professor at the Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporains. In 2025, she was Artistic Director for the France Pavilion at the Universal Exposition in Osaka, and will be a Villa Albertine resident at MIT.