The Beginnings of SIAF
Nearly ten years have passed since the first サイアフ, inaugurated on Saturday, July 19, 2014. In order to examine what the future may or should hold for サイアフ, we should take a closer look at the festival’s history. This should also include the period leading up to the creation of the festival, of which the details have never before been truly well-documented until now.
The night before サイアフ based on an interview with HATA Satoshi
サイアフ is held in accordance with the “Basic Concept of Sapporo International ArtFestival working title [only available in Japanese]” plan drawn up by the City of Sapporo in June 2012. One of the members of the exploratory committee for this plan was HATA Satoshi, who served as Regional Director of サイアフ2014. As an artist and art director active in Sapporo for many years, I made a request to the knowledgeable HATA that he reflect on the period leading up to the first サイアフ.
According to HATA, two key movements led to the organization of サイアフ. One was the artist-led “citizens’ movement” and the other was the “Sapporo Ideas City Declaration” promoted by the city administration. It was the “miraculous” alignment of these two movements that made サイアフ possible.
The “citizens’ movement”
The movement for international art festivals in Sapporo began in the 1970s. Local artists who valued activity in international networks began to organize exhibitions using their own initiative, and this eventually grew into a “citizens’ movement,” in the words of HATA. In 1981, the ART TODAY SAPPORO TRIENNALE First International Contemporary Art Exhibition was held at the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art. This Triennale, which was organized and managed by the artists themselves, ceased after the third edition, SAPPORO TRIENNALE 1987. Such independently organized exhibitions went on for some time, but with economic turmoil such as the burst of the bubble economy, significant transformations in the art scene had to wait until the 2000s.
In the 2000s, the movement became more active, and the groundwork for an art festival was gradually laid over time. HATA was in fact one of the leading figures in making this happen. The basis of the movement consisted of four main principles 1 nurturing talent to support an art festival, 2 fostering local hospitality, 3 recognizing the need for public art to allow residents to engage with art, and 4 purposefully holding strategic exhibitions, including on a smaller scale. The first principle 1 was implemented at the CAI School of Art 19962020 where HATA was the chairperson. The second 2 was realized through the artist residency program S-AIR 2005, and the third 3 through the establishment and opening of the Sapporo Odori 500-m Underground Walkway Gallery 2011. As for the fourth principle 4, the exhibition FIXMIXMAX The Front Line of Contemporary Art November 1019, 2006, featuring 16 Japanese and international artists, proclaimed its intentions in making an international art festival in Sapporo a reality. A key figure in realizing this was the late local gallery owner, MOMMA Yoko. Despite budget constraints jeopardizing the delivery of the exhibition, her financial support was able to transform the situation and boost staff morale, bringing the art festival to life.
“Sapporo Ideas City Declaration”
The second key movement was the “Sapporo Ideas City Declaration” released in March 2006. This was a declaration from the City of Sapporo in which they pledged to develop the city by harnessing people’s creativity and ideas, giving momentum to a range of cultural policies. In the following year in 2007, the “Sapporo City Ordinance for the Promotion of Culture and the Arts [only available in Japanese]” was issued. In 2008, the Creative City Sapporo Promotion Council was established, where discussions with a view to becoming a member city of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network took place. A project that symbolized Sapporo as a creative city was necessary in order to apply for designation. It was around this time that holding an international art festival appeared on the administrative agenda.
The alignment of persistent grassroots movements and administrative actions led to the establishment of the Sapporo Pre-biennale Executive Committee in 2010. This committee intentionally named themselves “pre-,” anticipating a forthcoming realization of an international art festival. In 2011, HATA acted as art director of the Sapporo Pre-biennale Exhibition, exhibiting at the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art in April and the Sapporo Art Museum in November. Through this progression, the City of Sapporo was officially designated as a City of Media Arts under the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in 2013. This finally set the stage for サイアフ2014.
Organizing サイアフ2014
However, following the establishment of the “Basic Concept of Sapporo International Art Festival working title” exploratory committee mentioned earlier, many of the people who poured their efforts into the Sapporo Pre-biennale Exhibition were not involved in the process of organizing サイアフ. In reality, the planning and implementation of サイアフ2014 was carried out by externally recruited members of staff, such as myself, who only learned of サイアフ’s background as mentioned above after the 2014 festival had ended. It would seem that something went awry at some point between the progress of the citizens’ movement leading up to サイアフ2014, though the details of this are not mentioned anywhere.
The decade leading up to サイアフ2024
The two editions of サイアフ in 2014 and 2017, both held in the summer, welcomed artists as guest directors. The unique directions and characters of SAKAMOTO Ryuichi and later OTOMO Yoshihide permeated every facet of the event, producing an art festival in Sapporo that altogether felt like one harmonious artwork. Details on these editions are still available online on the website and YouTube. Reviews and reactions to the festival varied based on individual perspectives and positions, but the major ongoing challenges were community engagement and the sustainability of the festival’s execution framework.
This led to major changes in direction when organizing the 2020 edition. A multi-director system made up of experts with experience in art festivals AMANO Taro, Agnieszka KUBICKA-DZIEDUSZYCKA was put in place, and a Director of Communication Design TAMURA Kanoko was appointed to act as a liaison for community engagement. Considering the symbolic local characteristics of Sapporo, the festival date was changed to winter, during the season of infamous snowfall. This was a bold move for サイアフ2020, but the event was unfortunately canceled in any case due to the impacts of COVID-19. More details on the “phantom” サイアフ2020 a festival that was largely organized but never able to take place in reality are documented in the illustrated Sapporo International Art Festival サイアフ2020 INDEX.
Creative City context
As we recount the festival’s history, it is important to note that the approach toward the term “Creative City” has undergone significant changes within サイアフ. The name “Creative City Sapporo International Art Festival Executive Committee” used during サイアフ2014 was changed to just “Sapporo International Art Festival Executive Committee” in 2015, with the jurisdiction also changing from the Sapporo City Tourism Culture Bureau to the Community Cultural Promotion Bureau. Subsequently, tourism promotion fell under the authority of the Economic Tourism Affairs Bureau, while the Community Cultural Promotion Bureau was responsible for “coordination with ward offices, resident activities, promotion of citizen autonomy, consumer life, gender equality, dissemination and revitalization of arts and culture, and preservation and utilization of cultural properties.” This change can be seen as a response to the shift in focus toward residents’ engagement, which became an issue of great importance for the festival from サイアフ2017 onwards. As detailed above, the conception of サイアフ served as an emblematic project in favor of the city’s accession to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, but following such a manner of large-scale organizational change, how should the サイアフ Secretariat consider Sapporo as a Creative City and City of Media Arts It can be said that the past decade has been a period of exploring the answer to this. The director selected for サイアフ2024, OGAWA Hideaki, is in fact an active figure in fellow UCCN member city and leading city of media arts, Linz Austria. As such, his appointment naturally represented an opportunity to take a fresh look at the context the Creative City status held in the festival.
サイアフ2024 finally came to fruition after a long six-and-a-half-year hiatus. The next section of the book will unravel the organizational process from an internal point of view.