Sapporo International Art Festival 2027, “PLANET SNOW,” Opens January 16 at 11 Venues Including the Snow Festival Site

Sapporo International Art Festival 2027 (SIAF2027) will be held at 11 venues in Sapporo from Saturday, January 16 to Sunday, February 21, 2027. A triennial art festival, it is organized by the Sapporo International Art Festival Executive Committee and Sapporo City. The theme is “PLANET SNOW – upas mintar / upas nociw.” Likening Sapporo to a single planet, it considers the activities, history, culture and future of the humans who live there.

The theme “PLANET SNOW”: thinking about humanity and the universe from a planet of snow

The organizers regard snow as a delicate message conveying the breathing of this planet. By touring the venues and expanding their perspective from microscopic spores to the cosmos, visitors are meant to open an awareness not bound to human-centeredness. Against the backdrop of climate change and social division, the festival is intended as a place to think about what kind of humanity we want to be.

The subtitle is in Ainu: upas means snow, mintar garden and nociw star. It contains two perspectives: a “snow garden” for those who live in Sapporo, and a “snow planet” for those who come from afar. It is described as a development from the previous SIAF2024 theme, “LAST SNOW,” extending the imagination from snow out to the universe.

Directed by a team including Hideaki Ogawa of Ars Electronica

The direction is a team system, with the following four members. Some members continue from the previous SIAF2024.

• Hideaki Ogawa (creative director): artistic director and managing director of Ars Electronica Futurelab in Austria. He was also a director of SIAF2024

• Asami Hosokawa (festival director): involved with SIAF since its first edition, she curated the exhibition of the Future Theater at SIAF2024

• Takahiro Urushi (school director): representative director of AIS Planning, involved in artist-in-school projects and other initiatives in Hokkaido

• Tomoaki Maruta (studio director): head of Tomoaki Maruta Architects, involved as architect staff since SIAF2017

The adviser is astronaut Naoko Yamazaki, honorary director of the Sapporo Science Center. Mayunkiki serves as Ainu culture coordinator, and dramaturge In Kanazawa edits the story of “PLANET SNOW.”

From androids to a large work at the Snow Festival: what can be seen?

The Sapporo Civic Gallery, the starting point of the story, presents eight artists and groups, including Rie Kawakami, Shigechanland (Shigenari Onishi), Kurumi Wakaki and Chen Shi. Chen Shi presents a new video installation depicting those who survive in a world of snow. Three artists and groups, including Boris Labbé, take part at the Sapporo Science Center.

The Hokkaido Museum, opened in 2015, takes part in SIAF for the first time, with Hiroshi Ishiguro / Future of Life Laboratory scheduled to exhibit the android work “Yamatoroid.” At Moerenuma Park, designed in its entirety by Isamu Noguchi, fragmentin and Yuima Nakazato show works. Nakazato exhibits a new series developed after fieldwork in glacier regions.

The Sapporo City Archives Museum (former Sapporo Court of Appeals) shows participatory works using technology, and from evening, outdoor projection onto its exterior walls is also held. At the Odori site of the Sapporo Snow Festival, ENESS from Australia presents the large balloon work “Iwagumi Air Scape.” Its inspiration is the iwagumi aquascape by an ADA aquascape creator at the new venue AOAO SAPPORO, an urban aquarium.

At the Sapporo Odori Underground Gallery 500m Museum in an underground concourse, two artists selected for the open-call “SIAF2027 500m Museum Award” show works: Yasuaki Onishi’s “Yuki no Ma (tentative title)” and Yuya Suzuki’s “Debris Planet.” The winners were announced on October 15, 2026, from 81 applications from Japan and abroad.

Dates, tickets and access: points to note

Dates differ by venue. The Sapporo Science Center opens from Tuesday, January 5, the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art runs from Saturday, January 9 to Sunday, April 11 (planned), and the 500m Museum until Wednesday, March 24. The SIAF2027 section at the Odori site of the Snow Festival is on view from Thursday, February 4 to Sunday, February 21.

Some venues have closing days. As of October 19, ticket types and prices and each venue’s opening hours were not posted in the festival overview or elsewhere on the official website. Check the latest information on the official website before you go.

The 500m Museum is in the underground concourse connecting Odori Station and Bus Center-mae Station on the Sapporo Municipal Subway. AOAO SAPPORO is an aquarium inside moyuk SAPPORO, a commercial facility in Chuo-ku, Sapporo.

Editor’s perspective

The festival is composed to broaden the frame of art, bringing androids, outdoor projection and even an aquarium’s aquascapes into its venues. On holding it in winter, the organizers say they make use of Sapporo’s distinctive urban appeal, such as cold and snow. At the Odori site of the Snow Festival, a SIAF2027 section is set up from February 4.

In Japan, The 1st Maebashi International Art Festival 2026 is on in Gunma until December 20, and the new arts festival “ARTE TOKYO” in Tokyo until December 31. A winter plan connecting art festivals through to Sapporo in the new year is also possible. In Hokkaido, a new art festival, the “Hakodate International Art Festival,” is scheduled to hold a preview edition in Hakodate in October 2027.

Overview

Name: Sapporo International Art Festival 2027 (SIAF2027)
Dates: Saturday, January 16 – Sunday, February 21, 2027 (dates differ at some venues; some venues have closing days)
Venues: 11 venues in all: Sapporo Civic Gallery, Sapporo Science Center, Hokkaido Museum, Moerenuma Park, Sapporo City Archives Museum (former Sapporo Court of Appeals), Chuo Ward Complex Government Building, Sapporo Cultural Arts Community Center SCARTS, Odori site of the Sapporo Snow Festival, Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo Odori Underground Gallery 500m Museum, AOAO SAPPORO
Admission: Not posted on the official website as of October 19
Theme: PLANET SNOW – upas mintar / upas nociw
Directors: Hideaki Ogawa, Asami Hosokawa, Takahiro Urushi, Tomoaki Maruta
Organizers: Sapporo International Art Festival Executive Committee / Sapporo City
Official website: https://siaf.jp/
*Information as of October 19, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: Yasuaki Onishi, “Distance Between the Real and the Unreal TAM,” 2020 (from a press release by Sapporo City)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on materials released by the Sapporo International Art Festival Executive Committee (June 19, 2026, and others) and information on the official website.

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team