GPS RUNNER
CASE STUDY ｜ Overseas Project
In 2024, the stage for the challenge was Peru, South America. Over roughly 90 days and 4,600km, Naoki took on one of the largest GPS artworks in human history — a geoglyph of an "Alpaca."
THE PROJECT
The stage for the 2024 challenge was Peru, South America. Using a vast landscape ranging from sea level to altitudes of 4,000m as his canvas, Naoki set out to draw an "Alpaca" — roughly 3,000km (3,000,000m) in body length — as GPS art, on a scale that can be compared to an entire continent.
Over approximately 90 days, he traveled and drew across a total distance of 4,600km. Due to budget and safety constraints, he was only able to run about 1,000km of it on foot. The rest he covered by every means available — hitchhiking, shared minibuses and more — until at last the Alpaca geoglyph was complete.
The completed "Alpaca" geoglyph (GPS art)
THE JOURNEY
He was defrauded of 3,000 dollars, attacked again and again by packs of feral dogs in the desert, and abandoned by a taxi in the mountains at 4,000m of altitude, where he nearly became lost for good. It was a journey so brutal that his toenails came off — yet, supported by a team of around 240 people cheering him on, he made it back to Japan alive.
PRESS
Anniversary projects, tourism PR, messages from a region or a company — we welcome ambitious, large-scale ideas too.