Fundació Antoni Tàpies: Chiharu Shiota. Everyone, A Universe

As part of the program commemorating the centenary of Antoni Tàpies (1923-2012), Fundació Tàpies has invited Chiharu Shiota (Osaka, 1972) to produce a site-specific installation with the aim of establishing a direct dialogue with Tàpies’ symbology to create a game of correspondences and mirror effects that go beyond space and time.

Heir to Ana Mendieta and an entire generation of feminist artists of the early 1970s, and internationally known for her creation of enigmatic and contemplative installations made with wool, Shiota, as Tàpies, questions the human condition and is inspired by memory, trauma, and uncertainty. In her work, various contrasting dualisms are presented – life and death, dream and reality, inside and outside – which in turn, is also an attempt to find intermediate zones.

Through this project, Shiota reflects on the part of suffering in human existence. Symbolizing the micro-universe made up of blood and blood vessels that circulate through the body, her red threads, in the most literal sense, also make visible the mutual connections that bind humanity.

On the cover: Installation view of the exhibition Chiharu Shiota. Everyone, a Universe, 2024,
at Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona
Photo: Pep Herrero. © VEGAP, Madrid, 2024 and the artist

Source: Fundació Antoni Tàpies