Shiota Chiharu: The Soul Trembles is the largest exhibition devoted to the Berlin-based, internationally active artist Shiota Chiharu. On display are some one hundred works ranging from her 1990s output to her latest pieces. In addition to large-scale installation, there are sculptures, performance videos, photographs, drawings, and materials related to her stage design projects. The exhibition marks the first time that her artistic career spanning some twenty-five years will be introduced in a comprehensive fashion.
Among these works are large-scale installations in which black and red threads run through and envelop the entire space, constituting one of her most representative artwork series. The countless lines traced out in thread allude to various phenomena and a complex array of links and connections, while also beckoning us towards the deepest reaches of existence. At the root of these works lie Shiota’s incessantly-pursued themes of life and death, as well as a fundamental inquiry into what we all pursue in life, and where we are heading.
The subtitle of this exhibition, “The Soul Trembles,” refers to the emotional stirrings of the heart that cannot be put into words, in addition to being a manifestation of thoughts the artist hopes to convey to others. In today’s contemporary age, everything changes at a rapid pace, and value systems are in constant flux: it can seem as if the firm and unyielding beliefs that society as a whole has relied upon are themselves being lost. Against this backdrop, the museum is hosting this exhibition in the belief that the keenly aware work of Shiota, which bears a relationship to essential, universal notions, is exceptionally significant in enabling us to question the world.