Snow Pallet is a land art project by Sapporo-based artist Toshihiko Shibuya. This year's event was held in the courtyard of the Sapporo Park Hotel for four months, from the first snowfall until the snow melted. This year's installation, the 13th of its kind, was held in the courtyard of the Sapporo Park Hotel for four months from the first snowfall to the melting of the snow. 70 objects of different heights and shapes, the largest ever, were placed in the courtyard, and as the snow fell, the sunlight and the shape of the snow brought about changes in light and shadows, creating a variety of landscapes from day to day, or even within a single day. On days when the snow is shallow, foxes pass through the venue and leave small footprints, making "Snow Pallet" a symbiosis with nature. The only artificial accent is the fluorescent color, which brings out the graphical beauty of the snow surface and leaves a vivid memory for the viewers. With an annual snowfall of up to 6 meters, the Snow Pallet is a memento of winter in Sapporo. The snowfall in Hokkaido has been decreasing year by year, which is a warning sign of global warming and climate change. Please have a look at the report by Toshihiko Shibuya on the end of this season.
Snow Pallet Project with Memories of The Winter -Snow on Anthropocene-
I strive to create artworks that resonate with nature. My “Rand Art” symbolizes expresses the unique Hokkaido Northern climate, with its heavy snowfalls. Art in natural context all depends on the weather, but I think that is how it should be. There’s nothing we can do to tame Mother Nature. I aim not to control nature, but the nestle close to it, to use it cleverly.
20.12.15.11:00 Snow Palette The first day started.
Winter land art "Snow Pallet" has been installed mainly in the big city of Sapporo.
Where, snow piles up about 6meters every winter. My art is site-specific for it also conveys “memories of winter.”
“Snow Pallet” is an artwork where fluorescent paint has been applied to the underside of an object which stands just above the snow.
In doing so, the vivid colors are reflected on the snow’s surface.
20.12.20 .12:00 Snowfall since last night has brought about 18 cm of snow, and the first stage of pre-Christmas viewing is underway.
It is an installation work that changes the landscape according to the time of the day, to the amount of snow and sunlight, and to the number of objects and different heights. I think of it as “Time-scape land art.”
20.12.20 14:00 View from the 9th floor of the Sapporo Park Hotel. Mt. Moiwa in the foreground. Concert Hall Kitara. Iris pond in Nakajima Park. Mt. Eniwa in the upper left.
I started the Snow pallet project in 2011. The snowfall has been decreasing year by year.
We have often irregular snow fall, varying from heavy snow to no snow in a short cycle in late years.
I think that Global warming is interlinked with climate change. Environmental issues are an urgent matter for all human being.
What direction is the earth heading ? Where will we be in the future?
Using “Snow Pallet,” I display memories of past landscapes together with weather date.
20.12.21 15:00 The shadows of the radiating trees and objects weave a beautiful harmony on the snow.
20.12.21 12:00 Now that there is little snow on the ground, the strong sunlight makes the long shadows of the objects appear on the snow surface like a geometric pattern. Some people say it looks like musical notes.
Snow Pallet 1 / Moerenuma Park (2011)
Snow Pallet 2 / Sapporo Art Museum Courtyard Installation (2011~2012)
Snow Pallet 3 / Yuki Sekiguchi Memorial Art Museum Front Yard (2012-2013)
Snow Pallet 4 / North Snowland in Chitose (2013)
Snow Pallet 5 / Otaru Unga Plaza, Otaru Kihin Kan (2013~2014)
Snow Pallet 6 / Windbreak Art Project, Obihiro (2014)
Snow Pallet 7 / Sapporo Miyanomori Museum of Art Courtyard Terrace (2014~2015)
Snow Pallet 8 / Thinking Art Exhibition
Snow Pallet 9 / Rokkatei Sapporo Main Store (2016~2017)
Snow Pallet 10 / Hotel Sapporo Garden Palace 4F Courtyard (2017~2018)
Snow Pallet 11 / Rokkatei Sapporo Main Store South Front Garden (2018~2019)
Snow Pallet 12 / Sapporo Designer Gakuin Stairway Entrance, Chocolatier Masar Main Store Courtyard (2019~2020)
Snow Pallet 13 / Sapporo Park Hotel Courtyard (2020~2021)
20.12.28 20:00 Snow palette at night. Clearly visible footprints of a fox on night patrol.
Snow Pallet13
Date: December 1st 2020 –March 4th 2021
Location: Courtyard of Sapporo Park Hotel
Sapporo Park Hotel and artist Toshihiko Shibuya have teamed up to present a winter land art exhibition, "Snow Pallet 13", in the courtyard of Sapporo Park Hotel from December 1st, 2020 to March 4th, 2021.
21.1.3 13:00 Only reflected light is shown on cloudy days. Deep snow cover in Sapporo Central Ward: 25 cm, last year: 3 cm, normal: 38 cm *Sapporo Regional Meteorological Observatory
21.1.8 11:00 The top of the doughnut-shaped object shows a humorous shape of snow.
This time I installed 70 pieces in this garden. There were disk-shaped, donut-shaped, triangular-shaped, and Z-shaped objects.
The area of this garden is 1,700 square meters.
The weather of this winter of Sapporo has many days when it was fine after the snowfall.
The art objects express the shadows of the clear shape to the surface of snow for winter strong sunlight. This Snow pallet is shadow pictures of the surface of snow with bright reflection colors. The shadow picture of rhythmical geometry figures appears to the surface of snow.
We can look down at this view from the southwestern windows on the third to the tenth floor of the hotel.
21.1.20 early morning "Borderline between light and shadow" in the morning with strong sunlight
21.1.20 14:40 The shadows of the trees and the reflected light of the objects are in perfect harmony. Snow depth in downtown Sapporo: 50 cm (last year: 16 cm, normal: 56 cm) *Sapporo District Meteorological Office
21.1.20 15:00 On the same day, when the sun was a little stronger, the view of the snow surface showed a different expression.
Weather record:
Snowfall in December : 50 cm, last year 54 cm, normal 132 cm.
Snowfall in January : 137 cm, compared to 85 cm last year and 173 cm on average.
Snowfall in February : 75cm, compared to 195cm last year and 147cm on average.
Snowfall in March: 44 cm, last year 49 cm, normal 98 cm (*recorded until March 10)
21.1.23 14:15 When the temperature is close to 0 degrees Celsius, the snow melts due to the reflected heat effect, and the fluorescent color on the back of the top panel is reflected due to the refraction of light, forming colored icicles.
The weather in Sapporo in February is the coldest and the heavy snowfall.
But there were 18 days with temperatures of +degrees this season.
As a result, the snow melted and the ground appeared.
21.2.21 In mid-February, the average temperature was +4°C. This has never been recorded in the past by the Sapporo District Meteorological Observatory.
However, there was heavy snow for several days from the end of February to the beginning of March, and some objects were completely buried in the snow at last.
We were able to see the best view.
21.2.27 11:00 Snow palette gets its first shine in a week due to intermittent snowfall since yesterday evening.
And a few days later it quickly melted and disappeared due to the warmth.
21.2.27 14:00 Repeated snowfall and clearing in a short period of time, symbolizing this winter.
21.3.3 10:00 Traces of all buried objects. The shape of the snow piled up is strange: sharp, round, or flat.
21.3.4 11:00 As the temperature rises again, the objects emerge.
21.3.4 11:00 The snow on the top board started to melt into icicles. Highest temperature +4 degrees. Tomorrow it will be +10 degrees. Spring is coming at a rapid pace.
I carried out all the pieces March 11. It's just the end of winter.
This was the largest number of land art objects in the past series. The season passed without unexpectedly heavy snowfall, the first in several decades. We had snow and sunshine every day, and we often saw the harmony of shadows and reflected light on the objects. The objects were prepared in several different heights, and some of them were large enough not to be buried by a meter of snowfall. As a result, the objects that were completely buried were only about 30 cm high. Although the weather data for Sapporo shows a trend of less snowfall every year, localized heavy snowfall has been recorded throughout Hokkaido, causing a lot of damage. Global warming, climate change, and abnormal weather are all part of our human history. It can be said that most of them are caused by man-made factors.
The Snow Palette Project is to record and memorize each winter's snowfall through art, but there may be a season in the near future when the project will not be possible due to the ultimate lack of snow. But ultimately, there may be seasons in the near future when the project will not be possible due to lack of snow. Of course, I am not wishing for that.
I hope that this project will weave together the beautiful memories of each winter.
1983.3 Graduated from Musashino Junior College of Art and Design, Department of Commercial Design (Graduation work: Excellence Award)
1984.3 Graduated from Musashino Junior College of Art and Design, Major Course (Laboratory Award)
President, Snow Palette Project Representative, Ikoro no Mori Meets Art
Vice-chairman of the Hokkaido Society of Arts (from April 2021), Director of Sapporo Designer Gakuin College, Part-time lecturer at the Department of Art, Faculty of Education and Culture, Hokusho University
AWARD
2017
Hokkaido Culture Encouragement Prize
2014
Sapporo Culture Encouragement Prize
1998
The 24th German, Dutch and Belgian Art Prize Exhibition "Excellence Prize
Sapporo Art Annual 98
Grand Prix, Sapporo Art Annual 98
1994 International Art Award
International Art Grand Prize Exhibition '91, Sponsor Prize '92, Special Prize '93, Art Newspaper Prize '94, Encouragement Prize '94ARTBOX Grand Prize Exhibition '94, Prize Candidate
(Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, Roppongi)
1993
91, Encouragement Prize, 92, Gold Prize, 93, Silver Prize, Contemporary Art Association of Japan, Tokyo
1992
The 7th Bridge Art Exhibition, Grand Prize, Sakaide City Art Museum, Kagawa, Japan
1989
Contemporary Art Association of New York, Grand Prize
1989
The 15th i・m・a Exhibition "IMA Prize" (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum)
PERMANENT COLLECTION
Sakaide City Museum of Art, Kagawa, Japan
Exhibition history
2020
GEUMGANG NATURE ART BIENNALE 'Nature Art Video Exhibition
GEUMGANG NATURE ART BIENNALE 'Nature Art Video Exhibition
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