SHIOTA Chiharu(b.1972)’s inspiration often emerges from a personal experience or emotion which she expands into universal human concerns such as life, death and relationships. She has redefined the concept of memory and consciousness by collecting ordinary objects such as shoes, keys, beds, chairs and dresses, and engulfing them in immense thread structures. She explores this sensation of a ‘presence in the absence’ with her installations, but also presents intangible emotions in her sculptures, drawings, performance videos, photographs and canvases. Her work has been displayed at international institutions worldwide including Hammer Museum (Los Angeles, US); Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art (Brisbane, Australia); Long Museum (Shanghai, China); Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (Wellington, New Zealand); Mori Art Museum (Tokyo, Japan); Art Gallery of South Australia (Adelaide, Australia); Yorkshire Sculpture Park (West Bretton, UK); and the National Museum of Art (Osaka, Japan) among others. In 2008, she was awarded with ‘the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists, Japan’.
Artists
Shiota Chiharu
Biography
1972 Born in Japan
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany
Education
2003 Universität der Künste Berlin, Berlin, Germany
1999 Hochschule fur Bildende Künste Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
1996 Department of Fine Arts, Kyoto Seika University, Kyoto, Japan
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024 At the Edge of Fate, Jupiter Museum of Art, Shenzhen, China
Another Planet, A4 Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
I to Eye, Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
Between Worlds, Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, Istanbul, Türkiye
Beyond Consciousness, Musée du Pavillon de Vendôme, Aix-en-Provence, France; Musée des Tapisseries, Aix-en-Provence, France; Chapelle de la Visitation, Thonon-les-Bains, France
Wo sind wir jetzt?, KULTUR IM FLUSS – European Capital of Culture Bad Ishl Salzkammergut 2024, Bad Ischl, Austria
Everyone, a Universe, Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, Spain
2023 A Tide of Emotions, Vincom Center for Contemporary Art, Hanoi, Vietnam
The Soul Trembles (Mori Art Museum touring exhibition), Shenzhen Museum, Shenzhen, China
The Ship of Memories, Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan
The Wall Behind the Windows, KÖNIG GALERIE, Berlin, Germany
Who am I Tomorrow?, Kunstraum Dornbirn, Dornbirn, Austria
Duo Exhibition: Song Dong x Shiota Chiharu, Yuelai Art Museum, Chongqing, China
Eye to Eye, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland
Hammer Projects: Chiharu Shiota, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, US
Signs of Life, Galerie Templon, New York, US
2022 Invisible Line, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Aarhus, Denmark
The Soul Trembles (Mori Art Museum touring exhibition), Museum MACAN, Jakarta, Indonesia
Silent Word, Schauwerk Sindelfingen, Sindelfingen, Germany
Home to Home, Kishiwada Jisen Hall, Osaka, Japan
Circulating Memories, Beppu City Center, Oita, Japan
When I wake up in the morning…, Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
In Memory, Gana Art Center, Seoul, Korea
State of Being, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
The Soul Trembles, Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
Across the River, Landesgalerie Niederösterreich, Krems, Austria
Multiple Realities, Cistererne, Copenhagen, Denmark
Living Inside, Musée Guimet, Paris, France
Imperfect Game, Nieves Fernandez, Madrid, Spain
Letters of Love, MOCA Jacksonville, Florida, US
2021 Tracing Boundaries, Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo, Finland
2020 The Web of Time, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand
Between Us, Gana Art Center, Seoul, Korea
2019 Beyond Memory, Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany
Me Somewhere Else, Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium
The Soul Trembles, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2018 Embodied, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
The Distance, Gothenburg Museum of Art, Gothenburg, Sweden
Beyond Time, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK
The Butterfly Dream: Kyoto Art for Tomorrow 2018, The Museum of Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan
2017 Direction, KODE Art Museum of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
Infinity Lines, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, US
Where are we going?, Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche, Paris, France
2016 Chiharu Shiota, Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
2015 Follow the Line, Japanisches Kulturinstitut Köln, Cologne, Germany; Istituto Giapponese di Cultura, Rome, Italy
A Long Day, Artist Room, K21 - Kunstsammlung NRW, Düsseldorf, Germany
The 56th Venice Biennale Japan Pavilion: The Key in the Hand, Venice, Italy
2014 Letters of Thanks, Espai d’art contemporani de Castelló, Castelló, Spain
Over the Continents, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington D.C., US
2013 Trace of Memory, Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, US
Letters of Thanks, The Museum of Art Kochi, Kochi, Japan
Crossing Lines, Manege, Moscow, Russia
2012 Synchronizing Strings and Rhizomes, Casa Asia, Barcelona, Spain
Labyrinth of Memory, La Sucrière, Lyon, France
Stairway, Schleswig-Holsteinischer Kunstverein + Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
2011 Drawings, Kenji Taki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Home of Memory, La Maison Rouge, Paris, France
2010 Dialogue with Absence, Galerie Christophe Gaillard, Paris, France
Wall, Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
Trauma, Nieves Fernández, Madrid, Spain
2009 A Long Day, Rotwand Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
Chiharu Shiota, Kenji Taki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2008 Breath of the Spirit, The National Museum of Art Osaka, Osaka, Japan
Zustand des Seins/State of Being, CentrePasquArt, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
2007 Trauma / Alltag, Kenji Taki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2006 Dialogue from DNA, Wildnis + Kunst, Saarbrücken, Germany
2005 Raum, Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, Germany
During Sleep, Museum Moderner Kunst Kärnten, Klagenfurt, Austria
When Mind Become Form, Kyoto Seika University Gallery Fleur, Kyoto, Japan
2004 In Silence, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan
2003 Dialogue from DNA, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art [a-i-r laboratory], Warsaw, Poland; Manggha Centre of Japanese Art and Technology, Krakow, Poland
The Way into Silence, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany
2002 In Silence, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany
2001 Chiharu Shiota, Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
2000 Breathing from Earth, Kunstraum Maximilianstrasse, München, Germany
Awards
2019 The Kyoto Prefecture Akebono Award, Kyoto, Japan
Academy of Fine Arts Prize of the Simone Foundation and Cino Del Duca 4th BVlGARI Rolla Award, Japan
2018 The 11th Bacon Prize, Tokyo, Japan
2012 Kyoto Seika University Distinguished Service Medal, Kyoto, Japan
Docks Art Fair: Le Prix de la culture Montblanc, Lyon, France
2008 Encouragement award for the new artists of the Ministry of Culture, Japan Award Sakuya Kono Hana, Osaka, Japan
2004 Arbeitsstipendium Bildende Kunst Senatsverwaltung für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kultur, Berlin, Germany
2003 Pola Art Foundation, Sengokuhara, Japan
2002 Philip Morris K.K Art Award 2002, Tokyo, Japan
2002-03 Akademie Schloss Solitude, subvention, Stuttgart, Germany
2000 Dorothea von Stetten Award 2000 short List, Bonn, Germany
Public Collections
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan
Jupiter Museum of Art, Shenzhen, China
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, US
Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania, Australia
Museum fur Neue Kunst Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
Sammlung Hoffmann, Berlin, Germany
Shiseido Art House, Kakegawa, Japan
Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Takamatsu, Japan
Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota, Japan
Toronto Museum of Art, Toronto, Canada
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan
Sorigé Foundation, Lleida, Spain
Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche (collection LVMH), Paris, France
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Oum Jeongsoon, Ding Yi, Shiota Chiharu: I Thought I Lost It!, Hakgojae Gallery, Seoul, Korea
The Extended Line, Art Basel Unlimited, Basel, Switzerland
Perhaps Sunny Days, Podo Museum, Jeju, Korea
2023 Narrative Threads: Fiber Art Today, group show, Moody Center for the Arts - Rice University, Houston, US
Kyoto Seika University 55th Anniversary Exhibition: FATHOM - Shiota Chiharu, Kanazawa Sumi, Soh Souen, Kyoto Seika University Gallery Terra-S, Kyoto, Japan
Numbers, Schloß Tarasp, Switzerland
Franz Kafka: 1924, Museum Villa Stuck, München, Germany
2022 BODY_PERFORM_LIVE, Padiglione d‘Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy
Bangkok Art Biennale 2022 Chaos: Calm, Bangkok, Thailand
Aichi Triennale 2022: Still Alive, Aichi, Japan
Manifesta 14, Prishtina, Kosovo
Nuqta, Interaktive Toninstallation, Chiharu Shiota und TRANSIENT Interdisciplinary Research Ensemble, Jeremias Schwarzer, Sammlung Philara, Düsseldorf, Germany
Raumschiff Hubertusburg: Ein Schloss im Wandel - Schenkung Sammlung Hoffmann, Schloss Hubertusburg, Wermsdorf, Germany
Blickwechsel: Chiharu Shiota und das Wechselspiel von Innen und Außen, Schenkung Sammlung Hoffmann, Schloss Pillnitz, Dresden, Germany
Renoir, Monet, Gauguin: Images of a Floating World, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
2021 Kunst & Hallen: Kunstsinn über Mauern Hinweg, Reinbeckhallen Kunsthalle Rostock, Berlin, Germany
Corpus Domini: From the glorified body to the ruins of the soul, Palazzo Reale, Milano, Italy
Adam, Eva und die Schlange, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, Germany
Oku-Noto Triennale 2020+, Suzu, Japan
Lightness and Being, K11, Shanghai, China
STILL ALIVE, Albertinum Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Germany
The 13th Gwangju Biennale: Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning, Gwangju, Korea
2020 OH! MY CITY, Paradise Art Space, Incheon, Korea
Körper. Blicke. Macht.: Eine Kulturgeschichte des Bades, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, BadenBaden, Germany
Where We Now Stand: In Order to Map the Future [2], 21st Century Museum, Kanazawa, Japan
2019 Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art: Boundless Encounters, Hangzhou, China
Setouchi Art Triennale 2019, Teshima, Japan
Honolulu Biennial 2019: Make Wrong / Right / Now, Hawaii, US
100 Jahre Revolution - Berlin 1918/19, Kulturprojekte, Berlin, Germany
2018 Persona Grata, Palais de la Porte Dorée, Paris, France; Musée National de l'Immigration, Paris, France
De fils ou de fibres, CAC Meymac, Meymac, France
Höhenrausch 2018: The Other Shore, OÖ Kulturquartier, Linz, Austria
Travelers: Stepping into the Unknown, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
2017 JIWA: Jakarta Bienniale 2017, Jakarta, Indonesia
Suzu 2017 Oku-Noto Triennale, Ishikawa, Japan
OpenArt Biennale, Örebro, Sweden
Body Media II, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China
Socle du Monde Biennale 2017, Herning, Denmark
2016 Piranesi | Shiota: Prisons of the Imagination, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
Spider's Thread: Spinning images of Japanese Beauty, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan
Collection 2: Diary, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan
The 20th Biennale of Sydney: The Future is already here - it's just not evenly distributed, Sydney, Australia
2015 East Asia Feminism: FANTasia, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea; Guangdong Museum, Guangzhou, China
No hablaremos de Picasso, María José Jove Foundation, La Coruña, Spain
Le Fil Rouge, Espace Louis Vuitton, Paris, France
2014 Progress and Hygiene, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
Busan Biennale 2014: Inhabiting the World, Busan, Korea
State of Being, Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, Bilbao, Spain
Adventure in Art: Masterpiece of the National Museum of Art - Osaka, the Niigata Bandaijima Art Museum, Niigata, Japan
2013 The 16th Domani: The Art of Tomorrow Exhibition, National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
To Be Or Not To Be: Portrait Today, Munich Modern, München, Germany
Matrix: Textiles in Art and Applied Arts from Gustav Klimt to the Present, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany
Asian Art Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan
Red Queen, Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania, Australia
2011 Lost in Lace, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK
Ainsi soit-il, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, France
City-Net Asia 2011, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
Experimenta Utopia, Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania, Australia
Inner Voices, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan
Biennale internationale d'art contemporain de Melle: Habiter la terre, du battement de cœur à l'emportement du monde, Melle, France
2010 Aichi Triennale 2010: Arts and Cities, Nagoya, Japan
Setouchi International Art Festival: 100-Day Art and Sea Adventure, Teshima, Japan
On Bathing, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
2009 The 3rd Moscow Biennial of Contemporary Art: Against Exclusion, Moscow, Russia
Hundred Stories about Love, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan
2008 Drawn in the Clouds, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland
Kanazawa Art Platform 2008, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan
Eurasia: Geographic Crossovers in Art, Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Trento and Rovereto, Italy
2007 Thermocline of Art: New Asian Waves, Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe, Germany
The Body Sings of Life, Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, Kagawa, Japan
Fiction for the Real, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
2006 PI Performance & Intermedia Festival, Szczecin-Swinoujscie, Poland
Art and Object: Affinity of the Jomon and the Contemporary, Aomori Museum of Art, Aomari, Japan
The 6th Gwangju Biennale: Fever Variations, Gwangju, Korea
Berlin-Tokyo / Tokyo-Berlin: Die Kunst zweier Städte, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
2005 The 3rd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale 2005: Parallel Realities – Asian Art Now, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan
Fairy Tales Forever: Homage to H.C. Andersen, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark
2004 The 1st International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Seville: The Joy of My Dreams, Seville, Spain
Shining Beauty, CODA Museum, Apeldoorn, Netherlands
2003 Walking on Art: Installation auf dem Fußboden, Kunstverein Ludwigsburg, Ludwigsburg, Germany
The Female Landscape: Thunder of the Worlds, Institute franco-japonais de Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
2002 Rest in Space, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway; Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany
Another World: Twelve Bedroom Stories, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland
Art in Transition II: Some Kind of Dream, Contemporary Art Museum of North Carolina, Raleigh, US
2001 Yokohama 2001 International Triennale of Contemporary Art: Mega-Wave - Towards a New Synthesis, Yokohama, Japan
Translated Acts: Performance and Body Art from East Asia, 1990-2001, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany; Queens Museum of Art, New York, US; Museo de Arte Alvary Carmen de Carrillo Gil, Mexico City, Mexico
2000 Dorothea von Stetten-Kunstpreis, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany
Strange Home, Historisches Museum and Kestner Museum, Hanover, Germany
Continental Shift: Eine Reise zwischen Kulturen, Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany; Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, Netherlands; Stadsgalerij Heerlen, Heerlen, Netherlands; Musée d'art moderne et d'art contemporaine (MAMAC), Liège, Belgium
Exhibitions
Artworks
Endless Line
2024
Thread on canvas
162.2x130.3cm (3), 162.2×390.9cm (total)
Endless Line
2022
Thread on canvas
180x120cm
Endless Line
2022
Thread on canvas
140x80cm
Endless Line
2022
Thread on canvas
140x80cm
In the hand
2020
Bronze, metal wire
17x20x32cm
Second Skin
2014
Photoengraving
80x60cm
Second Skin
2014
Photoengraving
80x60cm
Second Skin
2014
Photoengraving
80x60cm
Second Skin
2014
Photoengraving
80x60cm
Second Skin
2014
Photoengraving
80x60cm
Second Skin
2014
Photoengraving
80x60cm
State of Being (Book)
2023
Metal frame, book, thread
120x80x45cm
State of Being (Book)
2023
Metal frame, book, thread
80x45x45cm
State of Being (Window, Letter)
2022
Metal frame, window, letter, thread
80x45x45cm
State of Being (Dress)
2021
Metal frame, dress, thread
50x50x30cm
State of Being (Binocular)
2022
Metal frame, thread, binocular
45x45x25cm
Cell
2022
Glass, wire
7x25.5x20cm
Cell
2022
Glass, wire
30x30cm