Where do we stand now, and where are we heading?

The Sado Island Galaxy Art Festival has long been sending this question out into the world from the land of Sado Island. This year, the festival enters new territory with its very first Winter Season.

 

Winter on Sado can be harsh and untamed. Fierce winds rage, and powerful waves crash against rocks and shorelines. At first glance, it may seem far removed from stillness. And yet, when blue sky peeks through the gray clouds and snow-covered mountains emerge, a profound, lucid calm reveals itself—pure, uncluttered, and deeply grounding. Immersed in this silence, shedding the noise of information, one may quietly come into contact with the bare core of one’s own existence.

 

In this Winter Season, artist Shin Chi (Fake Fire Atelier) presents overlapping memories of two gold mines—Sado and Jiufen. Within a cave transformed by her hands into a passage connecting time and space, the work created together with visitors will vividly illuminate layers of deep-seated memory.

 

It resonates like a circuit of the translocal—echoing across borders and time. Experiences on Sado Island connect with other places, circulate, and continue their journey. This cycle is one of the reasons we continue to hold an international art festival.

 

In addition, Yoyoi Deki further amplifies her work for the Winter Season. Experiencing works by Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group, Hiroshi Miyazaki, Ethan Estess, and Aki Yashiro × DOMMUNE on Sado from winter through early spring will be a time unique to this season alone.

 

On March 14, NOH & EXPERIMENT, a collaborative performance by local Noh performers and contemporary music artists at the Atsukushi-hiko Shrine Noh Stage, will offer a special moment to feel the flow of time—from past to present, and into the future.

 

Winter on Sado Island.

Mountains, temples, and shrines blanketed in snow that absorbs all sound once the fierce winds subside.

Nourishing food and experiences that can only be savored in this season.

 

Together with this near-sensory experience of life being rebooted, let us dive into the deep layers of Sado.

 

Sado Island Galaxy Art Festival 2025

General Producer: Moriyuki Yoshida