Appointment of SIAF2023-24 Director
The Sapporo International Art Festival Executive Committee, chaired by Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto, has selected Hideaki Ogawa as director of the Sapporo International Art Festival (SIAF) scheduled for the winter 2023-24.
Ogawa is co-director of Ars Electronica*1 Futurelab, located in Linz, Austria. Like Sapporo, Linz is a City of Media Arts*2 in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN). He has been involved in advanced media art initiatives for years.
As we prepare for the next SIAF, we aim to get the most from the strengths of Sapporo as a City of Media Arts and from the city’s appeal, in order to deliver an art festival that is full of surprises and discoveries to change the winter of Sapporo, through collaboration with existing local programs, such as the Sapporo Snow Festival.
The position of Director of Communication Design instituted for the Sapporo International Art Festival 2020 (to bring SIAF and audience closer together) is likely to be replaced by a Communication Design Team consisting mainly of local talent. The organizational structure and members will be announced as soon as they are finalized.
Message from Hideaki Ogawa
The next Sapporo International Art Festival will focus on the future—not the future someone else will create, but the future we will create ourselves. I believe that art provides a compass for us to move toward a future that we have yet to see.
My mission is to realize an art festival that serves as an engine of creativity that is open to the public. As we live in the 21st century amidst urgent unforeseeable global issues, such as the pandemic and climate change, what will be essential are future-oriented education, innovation, and symbiosis with the earth, nature, and technology. I hope to create an opportunity in Sapporo where people from all walks of life and of all ages will engage in trial and error through art and will discuss the future.
I look forward to collaborating with you all.
| Hideaki Ogawa's Bio Born in Tokyo, Japan. Based in Linz, Austria since 2007, Hideaki Ogawa has served as an artist, curator and researcher at Ars Electronica, known as a global cultural institution in art and technology. Today, he is a co-director of the Ars Electronica Futurelab, an R&D division of Ars Electronica. He has been involved in numerous international cross-disciplinary projects, including innovative projects that use art as a catalyst to prototype the future and projects aimed at creating communities based on public participation and at implementing next-generation cultural and educational programs. |
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Video Message from Director
*1 Ars Electronica
Ars Electronica is a cultural institution based in Linz, Austria. It has four core divisions: the Ars Electronica Festival, one of the world’s largest media art festivals, held annually for Art, Technology, and Society; the Ars Electronica Center, known as the museum of the future and the school of the future; the Prix Ars Electronica, an international media arts competition; and the Ars Electronica Futurelab, an R&D division for the creation and research of various artworks. Ars Electronica continues to propose groundbreaking ideas and grand future visions.
Ars Electronica
*2 City of Media Arts
Media Arts is one of the seven creative fields covered by the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. Cities in this field aim to develop creative industries and new cultures using digital and other technologies, all the while promoting media arts to improve urban life and drive the growth of electronic arts that raise awareness of cultural diversity. Currently, the field comprises 22 member cities in 21 countries. Sapporo and Linz were designated as member cities in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
City of Sapporo Official Website