Chiharu Shiota

Photo: Joe Ruckli / QAGOMA

Chiharu Shiota (born 1972, Osaka) is a Japanese installation artist based in Berlin, renowned for her large-scale thread installations that transform entire spaces into immersive emotional environments.

Her work explores memory, identity, and human connection. Everyday objects – keys, windows, shoes or suitcases – become part of intricate thread structures visualising invisible ties and emotional landscapes.

Among her most celebrated projects is The Key in the Hand for the Japanese Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Her installations have been exhibited worldwide, including Kunsthalle Praha, where she presented a moving reflection on human fragility and memory.

Shiota’s work turns space into an emotional architecture that intertwines physical presence and inner memory, inviting viewers to experience the delicate tension between matter and emotion.