Snow Park of the Future

Venue Guidebook

Moerenuma Park

Let’s Play in the“Snow Park of the Future”

Producing the
Sapporo Future
Undokai

As one of the experimental zones for future winters at SIAF 2024, Moerenuma
Park will be hosting the collaborative project, “Sapporo Future Undokai,” which
explor the creation of new winter sports with the theme “Snow×Art×Technology.”
Set in the snowfields, participants will brainstorm ideas and create new rules

Creators

and tools, concluding with—real-life Undokai—a Japanese sports day or fieldday. In addition, a hackathon for creating new sports events will be held on
February 23, followed by the “Future Undokai” the very next day, where 200
participants will engage in the newly created competitions.

Moere Park is pleased to host the sports day of the
future, Sapporo Future Undokai, during the Sapporo
International Art Festival 2024 (SIAF2024) to celebrate
the city’s legacy as one of the country’s first to hold asports day. With the theme of “Snow × Art × Technology,”
this sports day event showcases ideas for new sportsthat incorporate a variety of unconventional elements
such as technology, dance, and music, while taking
advantage of the city’s unique natural resource, snow.

Prior to the event, the park’s Glass Pyramid will transform into a “Future Undokai
Room.” Here, visitors can try out sports events invented in past “Future Undokais”
as well as take part in mini workshops, which will be available every weekend.
An 8K audio visual installation by WAKITA Akira portraying the dynamics of the
Earth’s evolution over billions of years will also be exhibited. Moreover, using thefacility unique Snow Storage space, Finnish artist Jussi ÄNGESLEVÄ and Swiss
artist unit AATB will showcase an ice and lighting performance that utilizes
robotic arms.

INUKAI Hiroshi

NISHI Tsubasa

MIYAI Kazumi

Ungakuka (Dynamism in Arts Specialist)/ Director, UNDOKAI Association

Curator, YCAM: Yamaguchi
Center for Arts and Media /Director, UNDOKAI Association

Curator, Moerenuma Park /Project leader

Sports shaped by the community and participants
NISHI: The Future Undokai in Yamaguchi has become anannual event we host at YCAM. It’s actually a two-day festival.
On the first day, we host an event called Undokai Hackathon*,where approximately 30 participants work on developing new
games to play the next day: the actual sports day with about
200 participants. This is a general format followed in other

Interacting and playing with snow, and imagining and discovering the world of

locations, like Sapporo. In our hackathons, we first introduce

the future, the wintery Moerenuma Park will transform into a future snowscape,Starting from one-person sports day

inspiring new ideas.

available tools and structures to participants and then have abrainstorming session to discuss what kind of games we canAbout Moerenuma Park
Moerenuma Park is an art park designed by sculptor Isamu NOGUCHI, conceptualizing the entire
park as one single sculpture. The park features artificial mountains and a fountain, an area for playequipment, and a Glass Pyramid that serves as a cultural hub. In winter, the park’s snow-covered
landscape becomes a hot spot for winter sports. It is a globally unparalleled facility where an artist
has revitalized a former landfill site into “a sculpture to be seen from the sky,” and can be considereda symbol of the Anthropocene era where human activities have greatly impacted the Earth.

MIYAI: You’ve organized the Future Undokai in numerous

create using them. Afterward, the participants actually test

locations. How did it begin?

their ideas numerous times through computer programming

INUKAI: One day, the idea struck me. It was just me at first. I

and physical trials. We’ve been using the term “Developlay

made up a game of catching a falling drone while shouting,(Develop-play)” which reflects our attitude and core interest in“Danger!” Drones fall if you turn off the power in midair, right? Iholding the Future Undokai. It’s an occasion to enjoy developing

was doing that with my expensive drone, thinking, “A future

and playing at the same time.

sports day might look like this.” That was the beginning.

MIYAI: Hackathons sound like events for programmers or

I’m a video game creator by trade. I’ve worked on video gameengineers. Can other people participate in the hackathon?

projects and produced e-sports games. In doing so, I found

NISHI: Of course. We have many staff members at YCAM who

great potential in treating sports days as a medium forcan handle information devices, so a lot of tech-based sports

interpreting video games as something else, such as sports, art

games come out every year during the Yamaguchi Future Undokai.

pieces, or stories. I’ve been focusing on developing and

But that’s just reflecting the local Yamaguchi characteristics. The

organizing the Future Undokai for the past ten years.

types of sports games that come out vary depending on the

MIYAI: Wow, it was a one-person event at the beginning! Was

location and the people who participate. There have been a lot

the first large-scale Future Undokai held in Yamaguchi?

of games not involving technology. Some created an updated

INUKAI: Yes, the first one was held at YCAM in December 2015.

version of a cheering contest, which was like a rap battle. The

It was around the time Tokyo was selected to host the next

more we hold the Undokai, the more variations we encounter.

Olympic games. Some keen people had started talking about
contemporary sports and the idea of combining technology
and sports then. The mood of the time brought leading figurescitizens play a mock calvary battle together. After that event,NISHI Tsubasa and I co-founded the UNDOKAI Association,
Photo：TAKUMA Noriko

which is now the primary organizer of Future Undokai events.

* “Hackathon” is a coined word conceived by combining the words “hack” and “marathon.”Cheering Rap Contest

surreal to see university professors from Tokyo and local

Courtesy of Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM]
Photo: TANI Yasuhiro

from different fields together to organize the sports day. It was

INUKAI: It’s important that the games are created by participants andcontemplated the request, I thought of the Future Undokai thatnot prepared by us so every Undokai is different in different places.

NISHI-san had told me about before. Media art and contemporary

NISHI: Also important is the diversity of participants. We ask

art feel inaccessible to many people, but the Future Undokai

like age range, gender ratio, nationality, and disability status.
This information becomes an essential resource to hackathon
participants in creating inclusive games.
MIYAI: Fulfilling various requirements makes the creation of

Scramble Ball Crossing

participants to fill out a questionnaire beforehand to learn things

sports day more exciting, doesn’t it? The Sapporo Future Undokai

deals with that issue so well. Participants really enjoy it.
Moerenuma Park is foremost a public park, not an art museum,and moving the body and playing are at the core of its existence.
The focus on the “future” also goes hand in hand with the
SIAF2024 theme.
INUKAI: It’s an inevitable collaboration!

will be a part of an international art festival. We want to make it

There is no “should be” in the Future Undokai

universal. By the way, can non-athletic people join, too?

many balls as possible into a basket when the teacher briefly turns

INUKAI: They can. I’m not good at sports, either [laughs]. I wasits back on them. The ball throwing is like a pillow fight you would

into video games more than playing real soccer. Well, that’s how

play with your peers in a hotel room. It was an excellent game thatNISHI: Although there isn’t any precedent, there is no set rule on

INUKAI: I assure you, Undokai will still be Undokai, even if it

I got into e-sports.

brought out shared memories from everyone’s school days. Once

how a Future Undokai should be. Even during difficult times likeis canceled!

in a while, games with rules or structures that accentuate popular

the COVID-19 pandemic, we continued our activity online. Well,

stories and shared memories, like this and the Scramble Ball

we may have to cancel if a blizzard hits us… Something will comeCrossing, emerge during the Future Undokai.

out through conversations and experiments. I look forward to“PLAY” inspired byregional characteristics and shared memories

Shaping the future of Sapporo together

INUKAI: Such games are sports by nature, but also a performanceseeing how environmental factors essentially affect the creation.

MIYAI: Even if we get rough weather on February 23 and 24, we

MIYAI: I participated in the one that took place in Tokyo in 2022.

art piece or a play. The term “Play” we use for sports also applies

MIYAI: Speaking of environmental factors as essences to thecan still have fun. Throughout the duration of SIAF2024, we plan

I thought one game was especially wonderful. The game wasto acting.

project, it could take three times longer than usual to commute

to open the “Undokai room” inside the glass pyramid “Hidamari”

depending on the weather conditions during winter.

to provide interactive opportunity to learn about the Future

INUKAI: Three times longer!?

Undokai, and to host various play events starting this September.

NISHI: Then, we might see the birth of a game incorporating the

NISHI: Leading up to the Undokai, a series of related events willpump you up. From this September onward, we’ll hold a trialbased on the Shibuya Crossing.
NISHI: Was it Scramble Ball Crossing?

Midwinter sports day in Sapporo

MIYAI: Yes, that’s it. In that game, players competed on a final
number of balls successfully thrown into a team basket. The

MIYAI: There are two mountains in Moerenuma Park. One is thefact—something may take three times longer.

participants were divided into four teams, and they had to carry a

Mt. Moere and the other is Play Mountain. As what you’ve just

MIYAI: Maybe we’ll have participants who won’t make it to the park.

session of Future Undokai’s legendary sport called Tsunahiki

ball on their heads to their team basket located on the opposite sidesaid, the word “play” in Isamu Noguchi’s dictionary also includes

INUKAI: It’ll be the first time to operate with that supposition. We

Tamaire (tug-of-war & ball throwing) in September, a staff trainingof a scramble crossing. They had to cross the busy intersection

the meaning of “acting” along with performing music and sports.

could say, coming to the venue itself is like a game in this case.

workshop in October, and a tool-making workshop in December.

fast but without dropping the ball. Shibuya’s unique characteristics

I look forward to seeing such multidimensional meaning of “play”

MIYAI: Google Maps won’t reflect the minute-by-minute progress

The reason for doing these pre-events over a long stretch of time

were condensed in that game.

expressed at the Undokai.

of snow removal work. Sometimes, it may tell you “cleared,” butis that we’d feel sad if it ended up as a one-off experience. We

INUKAI: It brought out Shibuya commuters’ skills in navigating

INUKAI: Moerenuma Park is one of Isamu Noguchi’s greatest public

you end up getting stuck in a severe traffic jam. We musthope to meet more like-minded people in Sapporo through thethe city’s chaotic traffic.

sculptures. We think it’s a perfect stage for a participant-driven

establish stringent safety measures throughout, including thepre-events so that the Sapporo Future Undokai can happen for

NISHI: There was another game inspired by a regional characteristic

event like the Future Undokai.

actual play time.

the second time, third time, and more in the future. That’s ourcalled Is Everyone Sleeping? It’s a game created during the Future

NISHI: We have held the Future Undokai in many different places,

INUKAI: Safety management is critical. Needing to think of it is

dream and why we are spending such a long time preparing for it.

Undokai in Kyoto, and it’s kind of a hybrid of the Red Light Greenand it usually takes place in gymnasiums. But this will be an

itself a unique characteristic of Sapporo and the Future Undokai.

INUKAI: Although the first person to suggest this project was

Light and Tamaire ball tossing game. As Kyoto is the mostoutdoor event. I wonder how much of what we learned from past

It’d be great if we could involve participants in the discussion.

MIYAI-san, and NISHI-san and I are the organizers, this special

popular overnight school trip destination, the game was inspired

experiences will be helpful. Why are we doing this outside in the

MIYAI: The same can be said of the art festival itself. The scope

sports day won’t take shape without the insights of participantsby typical school trip memories. Players pretend to be asleep

middle of winter in the first place?

of measures to consider differs between summer and winter, andgathered at Moerenuma Park. The idea of “co-creation” haswhen a person acting as a teacher comes to check on them,

INUKAI: My first thought hearing the plan was, “Are you out of

discussing such differences leads to the ideas for site-specificalways been at the heart of the Future Undokai.

saying, “Is everyone sleeping?” Then, the players try tossing as

your mind [laughs]?”

festivals. The Sapporo Future Undokai can become a symbolic

Creating the Sapporo Future Undokai means shaping the future

MIYAI: I understood the difficulty of holding an outdoor event inprogram of SIAF2024.

of Sapporo, Sapporo Sports Day, and the Future Undokai. We’dlove people to interpret it in a variety of ways. All these hopes ofthat the Future Undokai would be the perfect choice. I was also

ours are conveyed in the naming of this project. I hope this sports

confident in the idea because we had succeeded in running an art

day becomes an opportunity to imagine the city’s future andproject called “Snowscape Moere” every winter for seven years
until 2012. Some might have been a little over the top, but weworked on various programs with local artists, including runninghorse sleighs and building a mountain cabin on the peak of Mt.
Moere. When the SIAF2024 director, OGAWA-san, sent in arequest for hosting “a midwinter outdoor event” in Moerenuma
Park, I suddenly recalled those wonderful memories of creative
sparks we experienced while battling with merciless snow. As I

Multiscreen video installation,
10 seconds thinking about the future,
Nina FISCHER and Maroan EL SANI
Architecture by AKASAKA Shinichiro, 2009

the middle of winter, but after a long thought, I was convinced

meet peers to pursue their vision together.

Photos: UNDOKAI Association, Moerenuma Park
Editor: SAKAMOTO Nodoka Illustration: SAKAMOTO NaoArt Exhibition
WAKITA Akira

Jussi ÄNGESLEVÄ +AATB

Photo: WAKITA Akira / Equipment Cooperation: ASTRODESIGN, Inc. / Production Cooperation: Wakita Laboratory Keio SFC

Photo: Gianni CAMPOROTA, ECAL – A Third Hand
Supported by ProHelvetia / “A Third Hand – Creative Applications for Robotics” at ECAL, University of Art and Design, Lausanne, Switzerland /Geometric Computing Laboratory at EPFL, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland / Rayform SA, Lausanne, Switzerland

WAKITA Akira

Ever-changing Evolution of the Endless Terrain.
Experiencing the Dynamics through 8K Visuals
and Sound Field Synthesis Technology

Over Billions of Years

Artist and scientist. Having been diagnosed withcancer just before turning forty, WAKITA delves deep
into the world of arts. Developing unique software
based on fluid dynamics and thermodynamics, hetranscends science and art through visual expressions.
His works update the way we see the world byvisualizing/ auralizing / materializing forces that exist
in front of us but cannot be perceived. The artist’s
works have been exhibited internationally in various
festivals and art festivals such as the Ars Electronica
Festival. He is professor at the Faculty of Environment
and Information Studies, Keio University.

2024“If humans can live for a billion years, would we witness the Earthbehaving like a fluid?” Listening to the pulsations and breath of the
Earth unfolding over an eternity, and wanting to be present amidst
the metabolism of the Earth. This artwork originates from suchsentiments. Using one mathematical model, WAKITA Akira simulates
the various stages of the ice ages, interglacial periods, desertification,afforestation, river formations, island formations, and artifact
creations, which transition over thousands to millions of years,
then visualizes with high-definition audio-visual installations.
How does the Earth come to existence and evolve? How does
civilization rise and fall? How does nature connect with theartificial? Fundamental questions emerge from this space createdthrough 8K visuals and sound field synthesis technology.

Technical Cooperation:
NHK Science & Technology ResearchLaboratories (STRL)NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories(STRL) is Japan’s only research institution dedicatedto broadcast technology. Its role is to build a richer
broadcasting culture from a research and development
viewpoint. NHK STRL conducts a wide range ofboth basic and applied research in broadcasting
technology, having led the creations of new broadcast
media including satellite broadcasting, HDTV, and 8K,
and has contributed to the advancement of program
production technology. In recent years, they havebeen progressively exploring new sound expressions
for future media. They will be showcasing one of theirresearch projects, the sound field synthesis technology
using Linear Loudspeaker Arrays.

Which Is Faster—

Jussi ÄNGESLEVÄ

Ice Melting or Human Intervening?

Media artist and a seeker of elegance, ProfessorÄngeslevä has been the driving force behind theiconic kinetic artworks, computational design andinnovation in spatial interaction at ART+COM Studios
in Berlin as a creative director. In parallel, he has
steered the New Media Class at Berlin University of
the Arts and served as a visiting professor at
Royal College of Art. In academia, industry or as anindependent artist, Ängeslevä strives for works thatcombine deep technological understanding, reflection
on societal impact and embodied aesthetic elegance.
He is currently based in the Bay Area.

Pinnannousu
2024

Situated in the snow storage chamber for the cooling system atMoerenuma Park’s Glass Pyramid, Pinnannousu consists of twoparts—one in which the artist creates the work on site and theother in which the archive video of the work is screened—which
are presented during different periods. The space contains threeelements—a block of ice being carved by a robotic arm, a carved

AATB

block melting, and a time-lapse capture of this slow process on a

A unit consisting of Andrea Anner from Switzerland
and Thibault Brevet from France. Graduates of the
École cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL), the two
had worked on interactive objects and installations
but encountered an industrial robotic arm three
years ago. Since then, they have been working toinvestigate the potential robotics and industrial
automation in everyday life, closely linking programming,
electronics, and mechanical technologies, as well as
precision machining.

screen. The ice block carved by the robotic arm is graduallyconverted into a lens, which refracts the light from a flashlightattached to the arm and projects it onto the wall. Processing theslowly melting ice block into a computed lens shape is a
performative attempt to give form to something that has no
defined shape and reminds us of the human endeavor to respondto global challenges that know no bounds.

Moerenuma Park | Venue Map

OutdoorEntrance

Sapporo Future Undokai

Snow Storage
Jussi ÄNGESLEVÄ+AATB

Winter sports equipment
rental booth
Entrance

Space 1

Space 2

1F

2F

WAKITA Akira

Schedule

Venue

WAKITA Akira

Space 1

Jussi ÄNGESLEVÄ
+ AATB

Snow
Storage

January 2024

Jan 20 (Sat) – Feb 25 (Sun)(public display of art-makig process)Sapporo Future Undokai(Booking required)Outdoor /Indoor

Jan 20 (Sat) and Jan 21 (Sun)Jan 27 (Sat) and Jan 28 (Sun)Exhibition
Documented Exhibition

Space 2February

Exhibition
Work in ProgressFuture Undokai Room

Future Undokai RoomFeb 3 (Sat) and Feb 4 (Sun)Exhibition

Feb 10 (Sat) –Feb 12 (Mon, National Holiday)
Jan 20 (Sat) –Feb 25 (Sun)Feb 23 (Fri, National Holiday) and Feb 24 (Sat)

Hackathon*Sports Day*

Feb 24 (Sat)*Postponed to the next day in case of bad weather

Snow Park of the Future
Venue

Moerenuma Park

(Moerenuma Koen 1-1, Higashi-ku, Sapporo)

Opening Hours 10:00 – 17:00

Dates

Jan 20 (Sat) – Feb 25 (Sun), 2024

Dates Closed Mondays(Open on Feb 12, closed on Feb 13)

Organizers: Sapporo International Art Festival Executive Committee and City of Sapporo
Joint Sponsorship: Sapporo Parks and Greenery Association

Moerenuma Park
websiteSapporo International Art Festival Executive Committee Office
Sapporo Tokeidai Bldg, 10F, Kita 1-jo, Nishi 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, 060 -0001, JAPANSIAF2024
official website