Shovels and Other Related Snow Gear Repurposed as Wind Turbines

The Sapporo International Art Festival (SIAF) is held once every threeyears in Japan, where artists worldwide can display various pieces, which are based on an overall theme and promote interactivity with viewers. Last year's theme was entitled "Roots and Clouds," which encapsulates the Island of Hokkaido perfectly with its natural beauty. Research residents Niklas Roy and Kati Hyyppa designed an interesting art piece for the (canceled) festival titled "Yukikakee Research Station," which repurposes snow shovels and other gear as wind turbines.

"Yukikake" has two meanings in Japanese — the act of shoveling snow and the shovel itself, a perfect expression in Hokkaido where winters can see record-breaking snowfalls. Unfortunately, when the pair arrived in Sapporo at the end of January, there was very little snow. The same decreased snowfall was apparent in their home countries of Germany and Finland as well, with speculation going towards global warming. This gave them the idea for their entry: what happens to all that snow gear if there's no longer any snow?

It's with that idea that Roy and Hyyppa created the Yukikake Research Station, which reuses snow shovels as wind turbines, and employs magnetic sensors and a microcontroller to record the rotational speed that can then be accessed by onlookers from their smartphones to see the data in real-time.

Unfortunately, the SIAF festival was canceled due to COVID-19. Still, Roy and Hyyppa hope to return to Sapporo when the pandemic subsides and show off their interactive installation alongside other artwork in the near future.