Chiharu Shiota is famous for weaving intricate works with threads, with past works mostly exploring themes of life, death, dreams, and memories. The artist’s large exhibition “The Soul Trembles” held at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum last year touched countless people and introduced more to her profound and beautiful works. Recently, she held an exhibition titled “Multiple Realities” in Copenhagen, Denmark, continuing to weave fantastical realms with threads!
The exhibition space is an underground art space in Copenhagen, Denmark. Once a cistern providing drinking water to the city, it has been transformed into an underground art museum after the reservoir was abandoned. Every year, the venue invites different artists or architects to create here, and the finished works will be publicly displayed to the audience.
Through a triangular entrance located in the middle of Søndermarken Park, visitors descend a staircase and are greeted by the dark colonnade of the reservoir. In the originally dim environment, the artist has created a poetic and spectacular scene with white lines. Upon closer observation, a white elegant dress is trapped within white yarn. Set against the tranquil atmosphere of the space, the suspended motion of the dress creates a vivid sensory contrast.
Walking along the metal walkway, the audience will see a moving red sculpture on the ceiling, made of geometric metal pipes, with its movement reflected in adjacent mirrors and puddles on the ground. Continuing straight ahead, you will see 7 red and pure white nylon dresses hanging from the ceiling and rotating. As the dresses descend, water droplets will splash, resembling fairies dancing gracefully on water.
The reservoir environment is dark and damp, with the sound of water flowing from time to time in the underground space. Chiharu Shiotani captures the characteristics of the space, turning the water pool into a dreamlike landscape. In the spinning dress, mirrors, and maze-like thread structure, the audience seems to connect to the “multiple realities” envisioned by the artist. The enclosed space no longer makes people feel cramped and uneasy, but instead arouses everyone’s curiosity to explore this fantastical maze.
Chiharu Shiota: Multiple Realities
Date: From now until November 30, 2022
Location: Cisterns in Søndermarken, Copenhagen
Image source and learn more: CHIHARU SHIOTA: MULTIPLE REALITIES
