Chiharu Shiota (eng)
Chiharu Shiota
Japan, 1972
Heir of Ana Mendieta and a whole generation of feminist artists form the early 70’s, Shiota works with her body as an intervention space, realizing performances that deal with our link with the earth, the past and the memory.
Well known for her installations with thread as main material, her symmetric tangles captivate the spectator at first sight, creating feelings that go between safety and fear, fascination and ugliness, while awakening memories, and both absence and existence as philosophical matters.
The presence and absence of her body is the thread running through her work, and ultimately is what makes it possible to understand her confrontation with the question of defining the artwork, the artistic subject and the public, the interior and exterior space.
In Shiota’s philosophy the true artwork is created only when the expectations for familiar artistic forms of expression are abandoned in favor of a perception of things that get by without any attributions of meaning.
She has exhibited at Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Gothenburg Museum of Art, Sweden; Gropius Bau, Berlin; Jameel Art Centre, Dubai; Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB), São Paulo; Casa Asia, Barcelona; La Sucrerie de Lyon; Gervasutti Foundation, Venice; Maison Rouge, Paris; MONA Museum, Tasmania; Matress Factory, Pittsburgh; The New Art Gallery Walsall, United Kindgom; Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan; and participated in the biennials of Moscow, Lyon and Venice, and groups exhibitions at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark; the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in Helsinki; Hayward Gallery, London.
In 2015, she represented the Japanese Pavilion at the 56th Biennale di Venezia. Her work can be found in Fundació Sorigué, Sammlung Hoffman, MONA Museum, Towada Art Center, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, Collection LVMH, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum für Neue Kunst Freiburg, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan Art Gallery of South Australie, Adelaide, Australia.
Chiharu Shiota. That Day. 2026. Pastel, ink and thread on paper. 30,5 x 22,9 cm
Chiharu Shiota. That Day. 2026. Pastel, ink and thread on paper. 30,5 x 22,9 cm
Chiharu Shiota. Strange Home. 2026. Metal frame, thread. 180 x 80 x 54 cm
Chiharu Shiota. Connected to the Universe. 2026. Thread on canvas. 46 x 34 cm
Chiharu Shiota. Connected to the Universe. 2026. Thread on canvas. 47 x 36 cm
Chiharu Shiota
Cell
2025
Glass and metal wire
15,5 x 26 x 9,5 cm
Chiharu Shiota
Connected to the Universe
2022
Water-soluble wax pastel, ink and thread on paper
30 x 40 cm
Chiharu Shiota
Connected to the Universe
2022
Water-soluble wax pastel, ink and thread on paper
30 x 40 cm
Chiharu Shiota
State of Being
2019
Thread on metal
35 x 62 x 134 cm
Chiharu Shiota
Cell [CS/S 240202]
2024
Glass, metal wire
27.5 x 17.5 x 11 cm
Chiharu Shiota
Solo exhibitions (selection)
2026
Exposing an Inner Universe. NF/NIEVES FERNANDEZ, Madrid
Chiharu Shiota: Threads of Life. Hayward Gallery, London
2025
Chiharu Shiota: Silent Emptiness, Red Brick Art Museum, China
My House is your House. Chiharu Shiota, Azkuna Zentroa, Bilbao, Spain
2024
I to EYE, Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka
Chiharu Shiota. Cada quien, un Universo, Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Spain
Chiharu Shiota. The Soul Trembles, Grand Palais, Paris
2023
A Tide of Emotions, Vincom Center for Contemporary Art, Hanoi
2022
The Soul Trembles, QAGOMA, Brisbane
Imperfect Game, NF/NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid
Internal Line, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig (MdbK), Leipzig
Carte blanche, Musée Guimet, Paris
Letters of Love, MOCA Jacksonville, Florida
Tracing Boundaries, EMMA Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo
Multiple Realities, Cisternerne, Copenhagen
2021
The Soul Trembles, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei
Direction of Consciousness, Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire
Memory of Water, Towada Art Center, Aomori
Connected to Life, ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe
Lifelines, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB), Rio de Janeiro
2020
The Web of Time, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington
Between Us, Gana Art Center, Seoul, South Korea
Lifelines, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB), Brasília
2019
The Soul Trembles, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
Black Rain, Galerie Templon, Brussels
Line of Thought, Museum Sinclair-Haus, Bad Homburg, Germany
Six Boats, Ginza Six, Tokyo
2018
Remind of…, NF/NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid
Artist’s Rooms: Chiharu Shiota, Jameel Arts Center, Dubai, UAE
Embodied, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
Beyond Time, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK
Art Project 2018: Chiharu Shiota, The Wanås Foundation, Knislinge, Sweden
The Distance, Gottesborg Museum, Sweden
Form of Memory, Kenji Taki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
The Butterfly Dream, The Museum of Kyoto, Japan
2017
Direction, KODE-Art Museum of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
Lost Words, Museum Nikolaikirche, Berlin, Germany
Chiharu Shiota – New Works, Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
Between the Lines, Het Noordbrabants Museum, ’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
Destination, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
Where are we going?, Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche, Paris
Infinity Lines, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, USA
Under the Skin, Kunsthalle Rostock, Germany
2016
Absent Bodies, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Australia
Chiharu Shiota – Solo Show, Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
The Locked Room, KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theater, Yokohama, Japan
Uncertain Journey, Blain | Southern, Berlin
Rain of Memories, Ferenczy Múzeum, Hungary
Follow the Line, Mimmo Scognamiglio Artecontemporanea, Milan
Sleeping is like Death, Galerie Daniel Templon, Brussels
2015
Seven Dresses, Staadtgalerie, Saarbrucken, Germany
The Key in the Hand, 56th Venice Biennale, Japan Pavilion
In the beginning was, Fundación Sorigué, Lleida
Searching for the Destination, SESC, São Paulo, Brazil
Follow the Line, Japan Foundation, Cologne and Rome
A Long Day, K21 – Kunstsammlung NRW, Düsseldorf, Germany
2014
Obra invitada, Bilbao Fine Arts Museum
First House, Zorlu Center Performing Arts, Istanbul
Cartas de agradecimiento, Espai d’Art Contemporani, Castellón
La Tenutta dello Scompligio, Lucca, Italy
Earth and Blood, Galería NF/Nieves Fernández, Madrid
Presence in the Absence, Rochester Art Center, USA
Dialogues, New Art Gallery, Walsall, UK
Tristan Und Isolde, Kiel Theater, Germany
Group exhibitions (selection)
2022
Nuqta, The Beginning, TRANSIENT Interdisciplinary Research Festival, Düsseldorf
2019
Nine Journeys Through Time, YUZ Museum, Shanghai, China
From the Paper to the Wall, Galerie Templon, Brussels
Who opens up the world?, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan
Setouchi Art Triennale, Teshima, Japan
Globe as a Palette, Hokkaido Obihiro Museum of Art, Kushiro, Hakodate, Sapporo Art Museums, Japan
And Berlin Will Always Need You, Gropius Bau, Berlin
Honolulu Biennial – Make Wrong / Right / Now, Honolulu, Hawaii
100 Jahre Revolution – Berlin 1918/19, Podewil & Alexanderplatz, Berlin
2018
Travelers: Stepping into the Unknown, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
Water and Land – Niigata Art Festival, Niigata, Japan
Höhenrausch – The Other Shore, OÖ Kulturquartier, Linz, Austria
The Marvellous Cacophony, 57th Oktobarski Salon, Belgrade, Serbia
The Riddle of Art, Takahashi Collection, Shizuoka, Japan
Das letzte Bild, Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, Germany
Constellation Malta, Valletta 2018 European Capital of Culture, Malta
Nine Journeys Through Time, Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy
2017
Portrait of the Gallery, Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez, Bordeaux, France
Kairos Castle, Gaasbeek Castle, Lennik, Belgium
Pafos European Capital of Culture, Pafos, Cyprus
The Other Side, Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen, Germany
A Summer in Le Havre, Le Havre, France
2016
The Future is Already Here, 20th Biennale of Sydney, Australia
In Your Heart and in Your City, KØS Museum, Køge, Denmark
Spider’s Thread, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan
From Here Until Eternity, Maison Particulière, Brussels
Melbourne Festival, Melbourne, Australia
Collection 2 – Diray, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan
Art Unlimited, Art Basel, Switzerland
2015
Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, Paris
No hablaremos de Picasso, Fundación María José Jové, Galicia
Foundation, Cologne and Rome (itinerant)
Awards
2012
Audience Choice, ARSENALE – First Kyiv International Biennale of Contemporary Art, Kyiv, Ukraine
Appointed as Commissioner for Cultural Affairs to visit Australia, Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs
2009
Distinguished Service Medal, Kyoto Seika University, Kyoto, Japan
Montblanc Culture Award, Docks Art Fair, Lyon, France
2008
Award from the Ministry of Education and Culture of Japan
Sakuya Kono Hana Prize, Osaka, Japan
2002
Philip Morris Award, New York
Museums and collections
Centre PasquArt, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
Sammlung Verbund, Vienna, Austria
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
Antoine de Galbert Collection, Paris
The Hoffman Collection, Berlin
Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland
Kunstwerk-Sammlung Alison and Peter W. Klein, Nussdorf
Museum für Neue Kunst, Freiburg, Germany
Shiseido Art House, Kakegawa, Shizuoka
The National Museum of Art, Osaka
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
The Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum, Shizuoka
Fundació Sorigué, Lleida
Fundación María José Jové Collection, Galicia
Museum für Neue Kunst, Freiburg, Germany
Ömer Koç Collection, Istanbul, Turkey
MONA – Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan
Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Kagawa, Japan
Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan
Centre Pompidou, Paris
Catalogues
2024
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Milestones: At the Heart of Creation
Éditions Skira Paris – Francés-Inglés
ISBN: 978-2-37074-263-6 -
The Soul Trembles
GrandPalais RmnÉditions – Francés
ISBN: 978-2-7118-8070-6 -
I to Eye
Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka; Mainichi Broadcasting System; The Asahi Shimbun – Japonés-Inglés -
Beyond Consciousness
Mairie d’Aix-en-Provence – Francés-Inglés
ISBN: 978-2-905195-48-7
2023
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Who am I Tomorrow?
Publishing House for Modern Art, Vienna – Alemán-Inglés
ISBN: 978-3-99153-047-3 -
The Wall Behind the Windows
KÖNIG GALERIE, Berlin – Inglés -
The Soul Trembles
Long Museum (West Bund) – Chino-Inglés -
In Memory
Gana Art – Coreano-Inglés
ISBN: 979-11-5591-078-8
2022
-
Invisible Line
ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum – Danés-Inglés
ISBN: 978-8-792184-76-4 -
Circulating Memories
Mixed Bathing World Executive Committee – Japonés-Inglés -
Carte blanche à Chiharu Shiota
Musée national des arts asiatiques-Guimet – Francés
ISBN: 978-2-7118-7926-7 -
Holding the Universe in the Hand (con Leiko Ikemura)
Bijutsu Shuppan-sha – Japonés -
When I Wake Up in the Morning…
KENJI TAKI GALLERY – Japonés-Inglés -
Multiple Realities
Frederiksberg Museerne – Danés-Inglés
ISBN: 978-87-971282-2-0
2021
-
Shape of Life
Naha Cultural Arts Theater NAHart – Japonés
ISBN: 978-4-87127-703-7 -
WINX – Neues Leben im Quartier
WINX GmgH & CO. Immobilien KG – Alemán
ISBN: 978-3-89986-365-9 -
The Soul Trembles
Taipei Fine Art Museum – Mandarín-Inglés
ISBN: 978-986-0772-21-0 -
Tracing Boundaries
EMMA Espoo Museum of Modern Art – Finés-Inglés
ISBN: 978-952-5509-70-0
2020
-
Between Us
Gana Art – Coreano-Inglés
ISBN: 979-11-5591-051-1 -
Counting Memories
Muzeum Śląskie – Polaco-Inglés
ISBN: 978-83-65945-11-2 -
Works on Paper
Markus Gell – Alemán-Inglés -
The Soul Trembles
Ki Heykyung, Busan Museum of Art – Coreano-Inglés
ISBN: 979-11-86154-60-1
2019
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Linhas da Vida / Lifelines
Base7 Projetos Culturais – Portugués-Inglés
ISBN: 978-85-62094-31-6 -
The Soul Trembles
Bijutsu Shuppan-Sha – Japonés-Inglés
ISBN: 978-4-568-10519-3 -
Gedankenlinien / Line of Thought
Museum Sinclair-Haus – Alemán-Inglés
ISBN: 978-3-86206-740-4
2018
-
Chiharu Shiota
Art Jameel, Dubái – Inglés-Árabe
ISBN: 978-9948-38-251-5 -
Chiharu Shiota
Art Gallery of South Australia – Inglés
ISBN: 978-1-921668-36-4 -
Beyond Time
Yorkshire Sculpture Park – Inglés
ISBN: 978-1-908432-36-0 -
Lost Words
Kerber Verlag – Alemán
ISBN: 978-3-7356-0447-7
2017
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Direction
KODE-Art Museum of Bergen – Noruego-Inglés
ISBN: 978-82-91808-59-8 -
Unter der Haut – Under the Skin
Hatje Cantz Verlag – Alemán-Inglés
ISBN: 978-3-7757-4353-2 -
Where Are We Going?
Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche / Le Cherche Midi – Francés-Inglés
ISBN: 978-2-74915-5 -
Between the Lines
Wbooks; Het Noordbrabants Museum – Inglés-Alemán-Holandés
ISBN: 978-94-6258-208-8
2016
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An Interview with Chiharu Shiota
Kerber – Inglés (folleto en Alemán/Japonés)
ISBN: 978-3-7356-0157-5 -
The Locked Room
KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theater – Japonés-Inglés -
Emlékeső
Ferenczy Múzeum – Húngaro
ISBN: 978-963-9590-92-2
2015
-
The Key in the Hand
DISTANZ – Inglés-Japonés-Italiano
ISBN: 978-3-95476-102-9
2014
-
Presence in the Absence
Rochester Art Center – Inglés
ISBN: 978-0-9914586-2-2 -
The Hand Lines
Actar Publishers & Casa Asia – Inglés o Español
ISBN: 978-1-940291-07-9
2013
-
Other Side
Towner Gallery – Inglés
ISBN: 978-1-871360-23-3 -
After the Dream
Villa de Montpellier – Francés-Inglés
ISBN: 978-2-35906-100-0 -
Letters of Thanks
Museum of Art, Kochi – Japonés-Inglés
2012
-
Where Are We Going?
Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum – Japonés-Inglés
2011
-
Chiharu Shiota
Hatje Cantz – Inglés-Japonés
ISBN: 978-3-7757-3156-0
2009
-
When Mind Takes Shape
Kobe Design University – Japonés-Alemán
ISBN: 978-4-88008-395-7 -
Flowing Water
Nizayama Forest Art Museum – Japonés
2008
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Zustand des Seins / State of Being
Verlag für Moderne Kunst – Alemán-Francés-Inglés
ISBN: 978-3-940748-44-7 -
Breath of the Spirit
National Museum of Art Osaka – Japonés-Inglés
2007
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From In Silence
Kanagawa Arts Foundation – Japonés-Inglés
2005
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Raum
Haus am Lützowplatz – Alemán-Inglés
ISBN: 3-934833-17-9
2004
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In Silence
Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art – Japonés
2003
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/ a-i-r- laboratory /
Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw – Polaco
ISBN: 83-85142-87-8 -
The Way Into Silence
Verlag Das Wunderhorn – Alemán-Inglés
ISBN: 3-88423-211-8
2001
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Under the Skin 200/01
Asian Fine Arts Berlin – Sin ISBN
1999
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Dialogue from DNA
Asian Fine Arts Berlin – Sin ISBN