空の高みから眺めると、まるで巨大な地上絵のよう。モエレ沼公園はイサム・ノグチの最後にして最大のランドスケープ彫刻です。札幌での記者会見で彼は語りました。「モエレ沼は彫刻のある公園ではありません。公園全体が彫刻なのです」と。若い日に啓示を受け、長年温め続けた「大地の彫刻」の構想。そのビジョンは彼の死後、イサム・ノグチの遺志を受け継いだ多くの人々と札幌市の粘り強い取り組みによって、総面積189ha の環境芸術として結実しました。

A view of the entire park from a high altitude gives an illusion of the huge Nazca Lines cropping up in modern Sapporo. Moerenuma Park was the last and largest landscape sculpture of Isamu Noguchi. At a press conference in Sapporo, he once said,“Moerenuma Park is not merely a park dotted with sculptures, but the park in its entirety is a grand sculpture.” The vision of “sculpture of the earth’ s surface”, which Noguchi had conceived during his youth through an artistic revelation and cherished for a long time thereafter, was posthumously brought to fruition as a work of environmental art boasting a gross area of about 1,890,000 square meters through the committed and tenacious efforts of both his partners and the city of Sapporo.

イサム・ノグチが初めてモエレ沼に立ったのは1988年3月。そこに広がるのは、不燃ゴミが風に舞う殺伐とした風景でした。にもかかわらず彼は、喜々として雪の中を歩き回り「ここにはフォルムが必要です。これは僕がやるべき仕事です」と強い意欲を示しました。彼にとっての「やるべき仕事」とは何でしょう。それは都市の負の遺産であるゴミの埋立て地を再生し、美に転換させること。環境を人の暮らしをより豊かにすること。「芸術がより良き生活のために役立つ」ことを、イサム・ノグチはモエレ沼公園において見事に実証してみせました。

It was in March 1988 that Noguchi first set his foot on the Moere Marsh district. What he saw then was a desolate land with scurrying remnants of refuse. Despite the sight of the bleak scenery, he paced about the site in the snow and shouted happily,“This place is crying out for form. And it is my mission to do just that.”What did he mean by “his mission to do”? But now we know that he must have been compelled by some forces beyond his control to regenerate the refuse dump, a negative legacy of urban life and turn it into something beautiful, thereby contributing to improving the amenity of life. Moerenuma Park is living proof of Noguchi’s conviction that“art can serve the purpose of enriching people’s lives”.

「ここには山がないから、自分が山をつくることに意味がある」とイサム・ノグチは語りました。モエレ沼公園を特徴づけているのは、そのモエレ山と、閃きを得てから55年もの間構想を温め続けたプレイマウンテンです。札幌中心部から公園に向かうとき、家並みの上に出現して、私たちを誘うランドマーク。公園を訪れた人がどうしても登らずにはいられない、2つの山。鳥の目をもたない人間たちは、その頂きに立って初めて、大地の彫刻 の全貌と対面することができるのです。

“Because this is such a flat land, it would be all the more relevant for me to create a mountain here” remarked Noguchi. Mt. Moere thus created, and Play Mountain, the inspired vision of which he had gestated for 55 years, constitute the topographical signature of Moerenuma Park. As one approaches the park from the central area of Sapporo, the two landmarks invitingly tower over the rows of houses. Everyone visiting the park would feel compulsive about climbing them. It is not until standing on top of either of the alluring mounds that the entire view of the park as a grand earth sculpture becomes available to us earthbound humans.

プレイマウンテンの麓に立ち、西側からのアプローチを強く印象づける造形がテトラマウンドです。モエレ沼公園の中にいくつも屹立する・山・の形態のひとつですが、ステンレスの力強い三角錐に抱かれているのは、地球のように柔らかな表情の緑の半球です。母レオニーをイサム・ノグチがやさしく包み込んでいるのだと解釈する人もいます。そのように、彼の生涯と照らし合わせて作品を見るのも面白いでしょう。 近づき、触り、遠望すると、そのつど視線の先に、また新しい造形が立ち上がってきます。

Tetra Mound, a lofty structure situated at the foot of Play Mountain, makes a strong impression upon those approaching from the western side. It is one of many “mountain” motifs found in Moerenuma Park.The gently-curved green hemisphere in the bosom of a powerful stainless steel triangular pyramid wafts an air of soothing softness like that of planet Earth. Some people interpret it as symbolizing Isamu Noguchi lovingly wrapping his arms around mother Leonie. It would be interesting to look at this piece of work in the context of the artist’ s life. Also, you might want to get close to it, touch it, or view it from a distance without resting content with a fixed sight line. With every change of perspective, yet a new shape would come into your view.

噴き上げ、崩れ落ち、渦巻く水は、イサム・ノグチにとってまぎれもなく彫刻の一形態でした。彼はこれを「水の彫刻」と呼んでいます。モエレ沼公園には3つの水の施設があります。「子どもたちがじゃぶじゃぶ入っていけるように」と計画したモエレビーチ。 「カリフォルニア・シナリオ」の延長線上にあるアクアプラザ。「揺れる波立ち」を追求した海の噴水。想像を超える水の威力を計算し、試行錯誤を繰り返した果てに、ノグチが思い描いた水のイメージを形にしました。

Water changing its shape as it spurts up, tumbles down, and swirls about was an undeniable aspect of sculpture to Noguchi, which he dubbed “water sculpture.” Moerenuma Park is provided with three water-based facilities: Moere Beach, which was so planned as “to allow children to wade into” ; Aqua Plaza, which is seen as an extension of Noguchi’s early garden work, California Scenario; and Sea Fountain, in which he pursued the object of simulating a “rippling sea.” It took numerous rounds of rigorous calculation to determine the force of water acting on the relevant structures, as well as repeated process of trial and error, before Noguchi’ s original concepts of water sculpture could be brought into tangible forms as we see today.

公園の冬季利用を促すために、イサム・ノグチは初期の段階から中核施設の必要性を主張していました。それがガラスのピラミッド。透明なガラスの壁面を透して、空の大きさとあふれる日射しが満喫できるスペースです。内部仕上げには、煉瓦積みに白塗装した壁や庵治石積みなど、牟礼のイサム・ノグチ庭園美術館やニューヨークのイサム・ノグチ・ガーデンミュージアムで使われた素材を中心に選定。2階は階段状の広場になっており、館内を巡ると、イサムワールドのエッセンスにふれることができます。

To encourage the park’ s wintertime utilization, Isamu Noguchi had kept emphasizing the need for a nucleus facility since the early days of planning, which later came off as Glass Pyramid. This is a space where people can enjoy the spread of the sky and the dancing sunlight through a wall of transparent glass. The building interior is finished primarily with white brickwork walls and masonry work using granite stone from Aji-cho, Kagawa prefecture, similar materials used for the Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum in Mure-cho. The second floor of the pyramid section is devoted to a stair-like sunken concourse. Thus, a tour of the building would bring you into intimate contact with the essence of Isamu Noguchi’ s world of art.

「都市の価値は、子どもたちが安心して遊べるスペースをどれだけ確保できるかで決まります」イサム・ノグチはこう語り、「遊びの彫刻」に意欲を燃やしました。幾何学的なノグチ独特の造形感覚から生まれた遊具は、子どもたちの自由な発想を誘い、からだと心を躍動させます。遊具のデザインは彼にとって、失われた幼年期を回復しようとする試みだったのかもしれません。モエレ沼公園はそんなプレイスカルプチャーの集大成の場でもあります。

Isamu Noguchi aspiringly challenged the creation of ‘playable sculptures’, saying,“The value of a city lies in how much safe space it can secure for the children to play.” The play equipment in triangular, cubic and hemicylindrical shapes created by Noguchi’ s formative sense is conducive to freewheeling thinking of children and sends their body and mind into vibrant flight. Designing play equipment may well have been Noguchi’ s attempt to re-live his vanished childhood. Moerenuma Park represents a congregation of play sculptures fathered by the playful spirits of a great artist.

モエレ沼は豊平川によって形成された三日月湖です。その名はアイヌ語の「モイレ・ペツ」（ ゆっくりとした川の流れ） に由来します。水辺にはエゾノバッコヤナギ、ヨシなどが、また沼の浅いところにはヒシ、ヒルムシロなどが群生し、季節によっては渡り鳥の観察も楽しめます。 イサム・ノグチはこれら自然の風物をも含めた一大空間を彫刻とみなしました。大地と交感し、自然の声に耳を傾けるところから、彼の創作活動は始まっていたのです。

Moere Pond is a flood-induced cutoff body of water that remained after the Toyohira River carved a new channel. The name of the pond came from ‘MOIRE-PETSU’ meaning a “river of slow current” in the language of the indigenous Ainu people. The waterfront is host to pruinashoot willow, river club rush, and cattail or bulrush (ofthegenusTypha), while clumps of Chinese water chestnut and water milfoil are found in the shallower parts of the pond. Also migratory wildfowl can be spotted during their seasons. With such natural things included, the open space overall was viewed by Isamu Noguchi as a medium of sculpture. His creative activity would dawn with a spiritual communion with mother earth and an act of listening in to the voice of nature.