New Chiharu Shiota Exhibition in London at König Gallery
Chiharu Shiota, Connecting Small Memories, 2019, Installation: mixed media Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan Photo by Sunhi Mang, photo courtesy: Mori Art Museum, Tokyo © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2020 and the artist
CHIHARU SHIOTA
NAVIGATING THE UNKNOWN
OCTOBER 9 – DECEMBER 19, 2020
KÖNIG LONDON
”I check my phone first thing in the morning, I read any new emails, I check message on my social media, I listen to voicemails. Each day we are targeted with an endless amount of information. It has never been easier to receive information from all over the world. But all the information changes all the time. I watch the news with my family every day. The volume of information is like a wave, swallowing my body.
It is difficult to orient oneself in this new world. Where is the surface in this ocean of information? Our human body is not adapting and changing at the same speed, so it is becoming more complex to find the real meaning of life. What is our purpose? Where is our destination in life? People believe that death is our ultimate destination and the end of life, but I believe time is a circular construct, and when we die, our consciousness transcends into another dimension. There is no beginning or end.
The boats float within the space, like a body floating in water. Each line is like an emotion. Using stripes, lines and rope is something that allows me to explore breath and space like a line in a painting. An accumulation of black lines forms a surface like the night sky which gradually expands into the Universe. But what if it is rather the bottom of the ocean. There is no light at the bottom, everything is black.
The architectural shape of the boat lets the passengers only move forward. We struggle to define our path, our human condition forces us to look forward searching for a destiny although we have no safe points of orientation, we travel on the open ocean without a sense of direction.”
Chiharu Shiota