The famous Japanese contemporary artist Chiharu Shiota held the largest solo exhibition “The Soul Trembles” in Tokyo MORI Art Museum this year. The exhibition will be held from June 20th- October 27th, 2019.
Chiharu Shiota currently lives in Berlin, Germany. She was born in Osaka, Japan in 1972, graduated from Kyoto Seika University, majoring in painting. In 1966, she went to study in Germany and studied at Universität der Künste Berlin, Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig, Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg. Chiharu Shiota was also worked with Marina Abramović , who known as “the grandmother of performance art”, so most of Chiharu Shiota's works were influenced by Marina Abramović. In 2007, she received an Art Encouragement Prize from the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. Chiharu Shiota is known for she's large installation art, using black or red braided lines in a large space to express the artistic conception and atmosphere in an intricately interwoven way. Black symbolizes the night sky and the universe, and red is the blood or red line of destiny. Her creative concept is to explore the fundamental question of life, "What is survival?" and choose some scenes or objects to create the concept of " the existence of absence ", presented in the form of sculpture, photography, and film, just like trying to Keep some intangible memories in real life.
Chiharu Shiota has exhibited in various parts of the world, like Art Gallery of South Australia, Yorkshire Sculpture Park in the UK, K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf, Smithsonian Institution Arthur M.Sackler Gallery in Washington DC, Sydney Biennale, etc. In 2015, Chiharu Shiota’s work was chosen for represented Japan to 56th Venice Biennale.
Many art units also collect her work, including Centre PasquArt in Swiss, Antoine de Galbert in Paris, The Hoffmann Collection in Berlin, Museum für Neue Kunst in Germany, the National Museum of Modern art in Tokyo, Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum in Shizuoka, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, etc.
"The Soul Trembles" is Chiharu Shiota's largest solo exhibition ever. The subtitle "The Soul Trembles" is the artist wants to convey such indescribable emotions to others. Chiharu Shiota said:” I have always been creating works out of my passion and love for exhibitions, and it was the only thing that I could live for. Helpless conflicts of minds, uncommunicable emotions and my inexplicable existence; these feelings give all my works form and shape. The year before last, I was diagnosed with cancer again after twelve years, but it struck me that perhaps the painful treatment along with the confrontation with death is a tribulation to create honest works. This exhibition will present works from the past twenty-five years. It is a dialogue with my unveiled, naked soul.”(Retrieved from www.mori.art.museum)
The main works of the exhibition include “Where are we going?”, “Uncertain journey”, “In silence”, “Reflection of space and time”, “Accumulation - Searching for the Destination”, etc. These works perfectly and completely demonstrate the value of the concept of “the existence of absence” that Chiharu Shiota herself has been exploring in her artistic career.
Figure 1: Japan Art Today［Kunsthaus Interlaken, Interlaken / Switzerland］photo by Sunhi Mang © 2018 VG Bild-Kunst and Chiharu Shiota.
Figure 2 left top："Circulation" 2018, Valletta2018 European Capital of Culture, Valletta, Malta, photo by Daniel Mifsud © 2018 VG Bild-Kunst and Chiharu Shiota
Figure 2 right top : Chiharu Shiota © 2018 My Art Guides
Figure 2 left bottom：IN SILENCE, 2008. Burnt grand piano, burnt chairs, black wool. Solo exhibtion: Zustand des Seins / State of Being. Centre PasquART, Biel / Bienne, Switzerland. Photos by Sunhi Mang © 2019 VG Bild-Kunst and Chiharu Shiota
Figure 2 right : "Beyond Time", 2018, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK, photo by Jonty Wilde © 2018 VG Bild-Kunst and Chiharu Shiota
