Church of self-obliteration

Chiharu Shiota born in is an artist based in Berlin. 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. In , Shiota was selected to represent Japan at the 56th Venice Biennale. What possibilities have threads opened for your artistic practice?

It felt like everything I painted had already been done before. Only after I began using the thread, I felt like I found my material. The thread was an extension of the pencil line from the canvas. With the thread, I can draw in the air and create a three-dimensional painting and the material also resembles human connection, — it can be loose, tight, cut, or tangled just like our relationships.

Installation history

How and when did you first begin researching these relations? What questions continually guide your practice? CS: It is about a personal emotion or experience. When I visit flea markets in Berlin, I can feel the memory or existence of the person who owned the item before. People collect these objects during their life like keys, shoes, suitcases, diaries, and photo albums but the items lose their importance after the person is gone.

Chiharu shiota templon

There is no human present but you can feel their existence. What do you want the public to take away from your work? CS: Contemporary art does not have a single answer. Everyone is free to think whatever they want; people have different opinions.