Born in Osaka in 1972, Chiharu Shiota is an acclaimed performance and installation artist. After studying painting in Japan, Australia, and Germany, Shiota took an interest in performance and body art under the influence of Marina Abramović, before settling in Berlin in 1996, where she has lived and worked ever since. Shiota’s art practice spans a range of media, including performance, sculpture, and large-scale installations. She is renowned for her intricate, web-like installations made with intertwined threads, often incorporating everyday objects such as beds, boats, dresses, pianos, suitcases and more. The artist is deeply influenced by her personal experiences, including a cancer diagnosis that she received shortly before her major retrospective exhibition at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo. Her work reflects on the human condition, exploring the complexities of memory, relationships and the fragility of existence. In addition to her solo exhibitions, Shiota has collaborated with choreographers, composers, and other artists, creating stage designs for dance and opera productions. She represented Japan at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015 with her installation « The Key in the Hand », and her work has been exhibited internationally, most recently at the Grand Palais in Paris with her exhibition “The Soul Trembles”.
