SAPPORO INTERNATIONAL ART FESTIVAL

ExhibitionSusukino venue(Three Great Treasures from Sapporo)

Dates August 6 (Sun.) – October 1 (Sun.)
Hours 13:00–20:00
Closed Mon. *open on Aug. 7 (Mon.) and Sep. 19 (Mon., natioanl holiday)
Photo: Fujikura Tsubasa

Retro Space Saka Hall AnnexDirector: Saka Kazutaka Photos: Fujikura Tsubasa

Opened in June 1994, the Retro Space Saka Hall (main building) is a private museum exhibiting tens of thousands of familiar knick-knacks from the Showa era personally collected by Saka Kazutaka. By rejuvenating and displaying them, he breathes life into the collection, and enables for a deep relationship to exist between the viewer and objects. Treating everything with equal love and care, the fruit of his work is a treasure of Sapporo, which surpasses any art. An annex will open in the Hokusen Plaza Sano Building for a limited time only. A collection that has never been exhibited will be on display in a distinctive space that used to be a bar counter. Photographs of the main building and the director taken by Fujikura Tsubasa, a photographer based in Sapporo, will also be shown.

Tairyo Izakaya Tecchan SatellitePaintings/drawings: Abe Tetsuo, Photos: Fujikura Tsubasa, With the cooperation of: Urban Renaissance Agency, Oguma Shoten

The interior space, collaged over a span of 20 years by owner Abe Tetsuo, who is also known as Tecchan, is a masterpiece. The aquarium collage and assemblage in the bathroom in particular is a must-see; the entire space is truly one of a kind. According to Tecchan, “It all began with pasting record covers, and then I stayed over for the first three nights of the new year collaging things and forming the starting point. From there, as I interacted with my customers, it started growing into what it is now.” In the Susukino Venue, photographs of Tairyo Izakaya Tecchan taken by photographer Fujikura Tsubasa will be exhibited along with Tecchan’s own oil paintings and drawings of his family. The paintings capture the joy of drawing, which is more important than skill.

Tairyo Izakaya Tecchan Tour

You can tour the Tairyo Izakaya Tecchan before it opens for the night.

Dates August 7 (Mon.) – September 30 (Sat.) 15:00-16:00 (except Wed., Sun.)
Venue Tairyo Izakaya Tecchan (Kamiya Bldg. 7F, Minami 3-jo Nishi 4-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo)
How to participate Meet in front of a sign on the 1st floor of Kamiya Bldg. by 15:00. Our staff will guide you.

Notice: Capacity is limited due to the size of izakaya. Please notice that you may not enter the izakaya when it is full.

Photo: Tsuzuki Kyoichi

Haruko at Hokkaido HihokanWith the cooperation of: Tsuzuki Kyoichi

Hokkaido Hihokan (Jozankei, Minami-ku, Sapporo) was closed in 2010. One of the wax dolls exhibited there was considered a masterpiece of formative art. Although the doll was damaged after the closure, it was obtained and repaired by an individual in Tokyo. The owner named the wax doll Haruko, and turned the neglected gem into a crown-jewel. The masterpiece will be shown as a treasure of Sapporo.

ExhibitionShiryokan Venue(Three Great Treasures from Hokkaido)

Dates August 6 (Sun.) – October 1 (Sun.)
Hours 10:00–18:00
Closed Mon., Sep. 19 (Tue.) *open on Sep. 18 (Mon., national holiday)
Venue Shiryokan (Former Sapporo Court of Appeals) (Odori 13-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo)
Mimatsu Masao, 11th Explosion (1994): courtesy of the Mimatsu Masao Memorial Museum

Images of Mt. Showa-shinzan in eruption painted by Mimatsu Masao, a Man who Heard the Voice of the Earth With the cooperation of: Mimatsu Saburo (Director, Mimatsu Masao Memorial Museum)

Mimatsu Masao, the former postmaster of Sobetsu, Usu-gun, Hokkaido, became the first person in the world to record the formation of a volcano when he did so during the Second World War. Mimatsu was good at enough painting to aim to enter Tokyo Fine Arts School (today’s Tokyo University of the Arts), as the Japanese-style paintings of the volcano painted by him on Japanese paper and silk show. All of them are absolute gems. The Mimatsu Diagram, from an observation of the altitude of Mt. Showa-shinzan from a fixed point, is highly regarded worldwide. Mt. Showa-shinzan was bought by Mimatsu and remains in his family, and the volcano itself provides world-class materials for the museum. Shiryokan will exhibit pictures of the volcano (partly replicas) and related materials to convey their appeal.

Roaring Bear, Crawling. Shimizu of Asahikawa, Yamasato Minoru Collection

Carved wooden bears in Hokkaido – Focusing on Yamasato Minoru CollectionWith the cooperation of: Yamasato Minoru, Shimizu Satoshi, Seno Ichiro, Watanabe Takuji, Ueda Satoshi, Soyama Teruyoshi

Wooden bears were once a popular gift from Hokkaido, but until recently had lost their attraction. One of the reasons was the advent of mechanically carved bears, which can be produced on a massive scale at low cost. This decreased the popularity of handcrafted wooden bears. However, a close look at a handmade wooden bear shows life in it. Wooden bars carved by sculptors through trial and error are art pieces that should be promoted to the world. To provide an overview of the craft of wooden bears, sculptor Yamasato Minoru’s carved wooden bear collection and other masterpieces from Hokkaido will be brought together for public display.

Akabira coal mine underground mine map (a part): courtesy of the Akabira Board of Education

Akabira Sumitomo Coal Mine Heritage: Underground Mine Map
*Only exhibited during Aug. 6 (Sun.)-Aug. 17 (Thu.) With the cooperation of: Akabira City, Akabira Board of Education, Yoshida Isao, Mikami Hideo, TANtan Akabira Community Guide Club

The pit, bathhouse and other facilities of the former Sumitomo Akabira Coal Mine were assigned from Sumiseki Materials Co., Ltd. to Akabira City in 2016. The underground mine map to be exhibited in SIAF2017 has never been open to the public. This map depicting the whole 200-km pit can be referred to as a compass for the coal mine, and it played an important role when pit surveying technicians decided how to proceed with work. Although it no longer has such a practical function, the map is a masterpiece as a picture, which forces us to rewrite the art history of Hokkaido.

Special ProgramThree Great Treasures from Hokkaido

Date August 11 (national holiday, Fri.)
Hours 13:30–17:00
Venue Training room, Shiryokan
Guests Mimatsu Saburo, Yamasato Minoru, Yoshida Isao, others
Moderator Katono Satoshi

Experts on the three treasures of Hokkaido to be exhibited in Shiryokan will gather to talk about the treasures.

Projects