Update:March 22, 2023

Sapporo Art Park of Tomorrow 2022

Sapporo Art Park, located in the southern Minami-ku district of Sapporo, is a large-scale art complex originally opened in 1986, later undergoing a series of renovations culminating in 1999. Located in a sprawling 40-hectare forest, visitors can enjoy a museum, an outdoor stage, numerous craft studios, a restaurant and cafe, and 74 outdoor sculptures amongst a variety of other attractive features.

The first edition of “the world's quietest festival,” the Sapporo Art Park of Tomorrow, was held in 2020 to explore possibilities of what could be enjoyed whilst most events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, due to a government-decreed lockdown in Hokkaido, the festival was held entirely online. The programme is comprised of a variety of entertainment such as music, film screenings, art, and puzzle-solving, but the major distinction is that sound is not played through speakers but through earphones on portable radios using FM radio waves. The quiet forest is interspersed with visual and lighting effects to create a magical atmosphere.

2022 Edition

In 2022, the event took place on the 24^th of September (Sat), 15:00 – 21:30 with the theme “Sharpen Your Senses!” Visitors received portable radios and earphones at the venue, and children in middle school and below were permitted free entry. 276 visitors in total were present at the event.

Film Programme

• CODA (2021, USA): Winner of 4 awards at the Sundance Festival, this film tells the moving tale of the sole hearing member of a deaf family (“CODA” = child of deaf adults) and the struggles she faces on her journey to make her dream of becoming a singer come true.
• Ainu Mosir (2020, Japan): Receiving a Special Jury Mention at the world-renowned Tribeca Film Festival, Ainu Mosir describes the life of a 14-year-old Ainu boy who is confronted with his father’s sudden death, leading to internal conflict concerning his traditional Ainu heritage and the way of life in modern Japan.
• LISTEN (2016, Japan): A silent artistic documentary in which various stories are told entirely through sign language and dance. The deaf performers, amongst whom are regular people with no acting experience, use their hands, fingers, facial expressions, and even their entire body to create a visual "musical" space.
• Sapporo International Short Film Festival Features: A selection of short films from Japan and overseas that were originally shown at the film festival.

Music and Dance

• Live music: Visitors could attend 4 live performances from band goethe and singers Kiichi Mochizuki, Emi Okamoto, and Omi Masato, selected by local music community Meutsuri.
• Dance performances: On the outside stage, dance shows were performed by choreographer/butoh performer Norihito Ishii and dancer OBA.

Puzzle-solving

Interlingual Mystery Game by IGENGO Lab.: A special edition of the game produced for the event entitled “Imaginary Museum on a Moonlit Night.” Using Sapporo Art Park’s 74 elegant sculptures in their abundantly natural setting as inspiration, alongside an open-air museum tour, the puzzle-solving game incites players’ imagination with the question, “What if the sculptures started moving at night?”

About IGENGO Lab.

The organisation is made up of deaf and hearing members of staff, and this game in particular was created in collaboration by a deaf game developer and a hearing media director. Participants team up to solve a series of puzzles and must use their wits to overcome linguistic barriers such as sign or spoken language and Japanese or foreign language. Not only is this a unique and enjoyable team-building experience, but participants also gain more perspective on universal communication. IGENGO Lab. also ran an interlingual mystery game as part of the educational programme of events at fellow Media Arts City Austin’s South by Southwest festival in March 2023.