Akira Asada

Born in Kobe in 1957, Asada serves as the Dean of the Graduate School at the Kyoto University of Art and Design and also teaches Philosophy of Art there. He also works as a critic in a wide range of fields, including politics, the economy, society, and art (literature, film, drama, dance, music, fine art, and architecture). Asada’s books include Structure and Power (Keiso Shobo), A Theory of Escape and The Music of Hermes (both Chikuma Shobo), The End of Cinema’s Century (Shinchosha Publishing), Beyond “The End of History” (collection of dialogues; Chuokoron Shinsha). He also served as a co-editor of Japanese quarterly journals InterCommunication and Hihyokukan (Critical Space).

Associate Curator

Shihoko Iida 〈 Independent Curator 〉

Shihoko Iida was born in Tokyo in 1975. She was a member of the Tokyo Opera City Cultural Foundation from 1998 to 2009 for the inauguration of its Art Gallery (TOCAG), where she served as Curator until August 2009. Iida was posted in Brisbane, Australia and Seoul, Korea as Visiting Curator from 2009 to 2011. Now based in Nagoya City, Iida works as an Independent Curator in exhibition planning, and also contributes articles to magazines and gives lectures. Her recent work includes stints as Official Curator of Japan Participation for the 15th Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh 2012 and Co-Curator at the Aichi Triennale 2013.
Major exhibitions on which Iida has worked include:

• Wolfgang Tillmans – Freischwimmer, 2004, TOCAG, Tokyo
• Rapt! 20 contemporary artists from Japan (hosted by and co-curated with the Japan Foundation), 2005 – 2006, various cities in Australia
• Trace Elements – spirit and memory in Japanese and Australian photomedia (co-curated with Performance Space), 2008, TOCAG, Tokyo/2009, Performance Space, Sydney, Australia
• Omnilogue: Journey to the West (hosted by and co-curated with the Japan Foundation), 2012, Lalit Kala Academy Gallery 1 & 2, New Delhi, India

Associate Curator (Media Art)

Yukiko Shikata 〈 Media Art Curator 〉

Yukiko Shikata was born in Kyoto Prefecture and is currently based in Tokyo. She is a guest professor at Tama Art University and Tokyo Zokei University, lecturer at IAMAS (Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences), and artistic director of “ATSUKOBAROUH arts drinks talk”. Shikata curated many exhibitions and projects such as at Canon ARTLAB (1990-2001), Mori Art Museum (2002-04) and NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC] (2004-10) as well as independent projects. Her recent projects include “Mission G: sensing the earth” (ICC, 2009-10), “polar m” by Carsten Nicolai + Marko Peljhan (Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media/YCAM, 2010-11, co-curated), “Possible Water” (Goethe Institut Tokyo, 2012), Seoul International Media Art Biennale “Mediacity Seoul 2012” (Seoul City Museum, Korea, 2012, co-curated), UBERMORGEN “KRAFT | School of Energy” (3331 Arts Chiyoda, 2012), and “Money after Money | Credit Game 2013”. Shikata has also participated as a judge in many art competitions including Prix Ars Electronica, UNESCO Digi-Art Prize, Nam June Paik Award and Japan Media Arts Festival.

Regional Director

Satoshi Hata 〈 Artist / Art Director 〉

Born in 1960, Hata lives and is based in Sapporo. His works as an artist and his activities extend beyond Sapporo, including overseas. In 1995 he resided in Germany with funding from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and contributed works to numerous Japanese and overseas exhibitions. On the site of CAI02 Contemporary Art Gallery in which he is the director, and the other occasions he has curated a number of exhibitions by young artists from Hokkaido, overseas (in Germany, China, and Poland), and more recently he has also worked as a performing-arts director. In 2011 he acted as artistic director of the Sapporo Pre-Biennale Contemporary Art Exhibition 2011 held at the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art and the Sapporo Art Museum as part of a privately funded initiative to hold an international art festival in Sapporo. He received the Sapporo Culture Encouragement Prize in 2004 and the Hokkaido Culture Encouragement Award in 2012.

Chief Project Manager

Mami Odai 〈 AIR Producer / Art Director 〉

Mami Odai was born in 1966 in Hiroshima, Japan.
After her career in the 3ART PROJECT (Aoyama, Tokyo), she worked in the Tokachi International Contemporary Art Exhibition: Demeter from 2001 to 2002 (Obihiro, Hokkaido). From 2003 she became part of the NPO association S-AIR(Sapporo, Hokkaido) and is in charge of directing the Artists in Residence Programme (AIR), conducting local revitalization art projects, planning for the Artists in School Programme, and producing the Sapporo2 Project (an art project related to snow and the shoveling out of snow in Sapporo). Ms. Odai was also dispatched to Trans Artists (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), an international AIR research institute, from 2008 to 2009 and conducted an investigative study on cultural policies of the Netherlands and on how to support AIR and the artists. She was the director of Arcus Project IBARAKI from 2010 to 2011, and is currently stationed in Sapporo.
Ms. Odai works on activities that support projects of artists and AIR within Japan such as networking Arts Chiyoda 3331 with new AIR associations in Japan and being involved with Move Arts Japan, which has increased the possibilities for a cyclic AIR program.

Project Manager

Takahiro Urushi 〈 AIS Planning CEO / Art Coordinator 〉

Takahiro Urushi was born in Hokkaido in 1977. He graduated with an M.A. from Miyagi University of Education in 2004.
In 2002, while he was still a graduate student at Miyagi University of Education, he planned out the ROJIART Project inside a shopping arcade in Sendai. Since then, he has been responsible for connecting local communities and societies by planning, proposing, and coordinating various events related to art and culture.
Mr. Urushi is currently the CEO of the general incorporated association AIS Planning and operates, plans, and coordinates art and cultural exchange projects such as the OTODOKE Art programme (Sapporo), Artists in School programme in Tokachi (Tokachi region), city planning for Kannonji City (Kagawa), Toyota Children X Arts Programme (national-scale program), and Network of Education for Communication in Hokkaido(Hokkaido).

Project Manager

Shinobu Kajita 〈 Independent Producer 〉

Shinobu Kajita was born in 1977 that has his origins in Tokyo.
After working as an operation staff member of Free Space ATTIC, he has produced various events without limiting genres such as theater, music, film, and modern art. His recent activities include being the chief curator of “Expressing Fanon” (Sapporo Art Museum) in 2011, creating creative share office “tab”, working as curator for “Uroboros Torch – a Masayuki Akamatsu+ exhibition” in 2012, producing Theatre Group 119 (eleven-nine), and conducting creative coordination for “sapporo north2.” He puts in his efforts on activities that shuffle different genres such as matching up various industries by utilizing many networks.

Curatorial Project Manager

Sachiko Namba 〈 Curator 〉

Sachiko Namba was born in Hiroshima. After serving as a curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo from 2006 to 2011, She set up I plus N Ltd. in Japan to organize art exhibitions and workshops with specific focus on socially engaged art practice. She is co-author of ‘Biennale Today’ and also the author of ‘Curating Contemporary Art in Japan: 1950s to the Present’. Namba’s curatorial projects include ‘Interweaving Cultures’ (2004, Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok), ‘Garden for Children’ (2010, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo), and ‘Breathing Atolls: Japan-Maldives Contemporary Art Exhibition’ (2012, National Art Gallery of the Maldives, Male, travelled to Spiral, Tokyo).

Project Manager

Tomohiko Ogawa 〈 Landscape Artist 〉

Tomohiko Ogawa was born in 1971 in Asahikawa, Hokkaido Prefecture. Since 1999, he has worked as a landscape artist focusing on expanding perceptions of sceneries. Using various styles and locations, Ogawa creates and presents his works and also holds workshops both in Japan and abroad. Along with personal and group exhibitions, he has displayed his works at the ‘GOSSA WALKING MUSEUM’, ‘SAPPORO2 Project’, and ‘Silent Shadows’.
Ogawa has also been active as a technician for art projects since 2007 and was responsible for creating and displaying works at ‘Amanogawa Bridge’ (Sami Rintala/ Tokachi Millennium Forest), ‘Akasaka Art Flower ’08’, and Beppu Contemporary Art Festival “Mixed Bathing World” (2012).
http://ogawa-tomohiko.com/

Project Manager

Motohiro Sunouchi 〈 Assistant Professor, Sapporo City University 〉

Motohiro Sunouchi〈Assistant Professor, Sapporo City University〉
Assistant Professor, Department of Design, Sapporo City University. After working at Sony Corporation and Cybozu Labs, he moved to Sapporo. Specializes in design of digital media and cultural archives, media technologies research and media art. He co-founded Ambient sound label “43d” from Sapporo.

Project Manager

Asami Hosokawa 〈 Coordinator 〉

Asami Hosokawa was born in 1977 in Tokyo. After her career in a television
company to organize exhibitions, she stayed in Canada for a year. When she returned to Japan in 2008, she started to work for a secretariat office to organize for festival and was in charge of cooperation with overseas festivals and coordinating visits of artists. From 2013, she has been a
freelance coordinator. Hosokawa has worked include: “Isamu Noguchi Exhibition” (2005, Sapporo Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo), ”Super Escher Exhibition” (2006-, Bunkamura the museum), ”Japan Media Arts Festival” (2008-, The National Art Center, Tokyo), ”Monomachi”（2013-, The southern Taito-ward, Tokyo）, ”art and collective intelligence”（2013, Yamaguchi Center for Art and Media (YCAM)）. She received the Best Producer Prize of the 12th AMD Award in 2007.

Assistant Manager

Yuji Oshita 〈 Coordinator 〉

Born in 1987 in Yokohama, Japan. After serving as researcher of TOKYO GALLERY＋BEIJING TOKYO ART PROJECTS’s 60th anniversary catalog in 2010, Mori Art Museum curatorial assistant from 2010 to 2013. Major exhibition on which Oshita has worked include ‘KITAKAGAYA CROSSING 2013: MOBILIS IN MOBILI – Crossing Today'(2013).

Official Designer
Sapporo International Art Festival 2014

Rikako Nagashima

Graphic designer Rikako Nagashima (born November 11, 1980) graduated from the Department of Visual Communication Design at Musashino Art University in 2003. After working for Japanese advertising company Hakuhodo Inc., she established a design office called village ® in 2014.
Her work focuses on graphic design and also encompasses CI, branding, package design, product design and art direction for advertising. She has her own brand called Human_Nature, and also collaborates with Japanese contemporary artist Tatsuo Miyajima on an anti-nuclear art initiative known as the Peace Shadow Project.
Recent work has included contributions to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week and the Sapporo International Art Festival, design of the book cover for Aikokusya no Yuutsu (The Patriots’ Melancholy) co-authored by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Kunio Suzuki, and the BAO BAO Issey Miyake x Rikako Nagashima Free Hand Bag venture.
Ms. Nagashima has been recognized with numerous awards in Japan and elsewhere, including the Tokyo ADC Award, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (Design Lions) Silver Prize, the New York ADC Awards Silver Prize, the New York ADC Awards Bronze Prize, the ADFEST Grand Prix, the JAGDA Newcomer Award, the London D&AD Silver Prize, the Warsaw International Poster Biennale Silver Prize, the Japan Package Design Gold Prize and the Japan Ministry of Economy Food Design Awards.
She also served as an international juror at the 2012 New York ADC and at the 2014 One Show.

Space Design Advisers
Jun Aoki + Ayako Maruta

Jun Aoki

Born in 1956 Born in Yokohama. Lives and works in Tokyo
Jun Aoki worked at Arata Isozaki & Associates (1983-1990) before establishing his own practice, Jun Aoki & Associates, in 1991. With its distinctive interpretations of site conditions and keenly intelligent manipulation of space, Aoki’s architecture has been highly lauded both at home and abroad. Among his best-known early works are Mamihara Bridge (1995, winner of the 8th Kumamoto Landscape Award) and the Fukushima Lagoon Museum (1997, winner of the Architectural Institute of Japan Annual Award). His design for Louis Vuitton Nagoya (1999), with its ingenious handling of a building site that lacked depth through innovative use of a double-skin exterior wall to produce a moiré effect, went on to become the model for other Louis Vuitton stores around the world. Aoki won the 2000 design competition for the Aomori Museum of Art with an avant-garde proposal featured a white brick exterior with the look of a renovated older structure, with white cubic galleries inside and interstices of different scales and proportions between the structure and the earth that also serve as galleries. The museum opened in 2006. Since participating as an artist in the “Continuity/Transgression” exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (2002), Aoki has explored and criss-crossed the interzone between architecture and art. He held a solo exhibition at TARO NASU in Tokyo (2009).
For the Aichi Triennale 2013 he formed the team SPIDERs with Hiroshi Sugito and implemented a bold project in which the front and rear of the Nagoya City Art Museum were reversed and Kisho Kurokawa’s architectural design radically reinterpreted. Among his key publications are Jun Aoki Complete Works 1 (INAX, 2004), Jun Aoki Complete Works 2 (INAX, 2006), and Harappa to yuenchi (Vacant Lots and Amusement Parks) (Okukusha).

Ayako Maruta

Born in 1978 Born in Niigata. Lives and works in Sapporo
Ayako Maruta established Office Ayako Maruta in 2006, after working at Jun Aoki & Associates from 2003 to 2006. Since then, she has gained acclaim for her work in a wide range of fields not strictly limited to architecture, including interior design for commercial facilities, spatial design for exhibition venues, and installations. She moved her office to Sapporo in 2009. Maruta’s design employs familiar materials to create unprecedented spaces, with the themes of aggregation, arrangement, and freedom.
In 2007 she received the Good Design Award and the JCD Design Award for Best New Designer for DAILY FRESH STORE (Tokyo, 2007), in which she assembled an array of square steel panels and magnet pieces to create walls that can be freely rearranged according to functional and design needs. In Suspended Figure (2008), an installation at Diesel Denim Gallery in Aoyama, Tokyo, she hung lamps used at construction sites from the ceiling with cables to create beautiful arches and pillars. She held the solo exhibition “Circus” at Prismic Gallery, Tokyo in 2009. At SIAF2014, she collaborates with Jun Aoki as the Space Design Advisers.

Venue design

Oliver Franz（Former Hokkaido Government Office Buikding(Red BricK))

Born in 1979 in Switzerland。designer (silent. Creative Director and Founder)
Oliver Franz originally worked as a furniture craftsman before going on to study design in Switzerland and Sweden. He has worked in various design studios in Sweden, San Francisco and Japan. In these roles, Oliver developed mainly electronic consumer goods. In 2009, Oliver started the design atelier “silent.” and strives to create sustainable products that combine traditional techniques and modern design. More recently Oliver co-founded a separate design office “idéel-lab”, based in Switzerland and Japan, which provides extensive design services. Recently, Oliver has been able to mix his passion for aesthetics and sustainability with the arts, working on exhibitions, creating innovative spaces for a variety of exhibition types. He lives and works in Kyoto.

General Producer
Sapporo International Art Festival 2014

Mitsuhiro Takemura

Born in Tokyo in 1954, Takemura lectures on creative industries and media arts in his role as a professor at Sapporo City University’s School of Design. He also pursues research on Creative City policies in Japan and elsewhere and promotes global collaborative research on social media environments, creative economy and other topics.
As a pioneer in research on media aesthetics and cyberculture in Japan, the various roles Takemura has held include those of a jury at the Nagoya International Biennale ARTEC, a member of the first World Wide Web Jury at Prix Ars Electronica 1995 (Austria) and a member of the editorial board of the InterCommunication quarterly publication. He has also led digital cultural heritage projects in Kyoto City, Ishikawa Prefecture and Okinawa Prefecture as part of his work in the practice of digital archive informatics relating to regional cultural resources. He has published a range of books, including Saiba media no gingakei (lit. The Cybermedia Galaxy; Film Art Inc.), Media ekusutashi (lit. Media Ecstasy; Seidosha, Inc.) and Dejitaru japanesuku (lit. Digital Japanesque; NTT Publishing Co., Ltd.). In 2003, he received the 19th Telecom Social Science Award of the Telecommunications Advancement Foundation in recognition of a publication entitled Kioku no yukutate: dejitaru a kaivu no bunka keizai (lit. Developments of Memories: cultural economy of digital archives; University of Tokyo Press). He also received the 2007 Award of the Director-General of the Hokkaido Bureau of Telecommunications in recognition of his research and initiatives. He currently serves as Director of Creative City Consortium (NPO), advisor to TMT Strategies (New York, USA) and Director of Sapporo Media Arts Lab (SMAL).