Artist Chiharu Shiota – renowned for linking various aspects of artistic performances with traditional installation practices – has transformed the Blain | Southern Gallery in Berlin by using 750,000 metres of thread from 5,000 balls of blood-red yarn.
In total, the fully-immersive installation stands at 10 metres tall and fills the entire gallery space. Titled, ‘Uncertain Journey’, the exhibition piece can be viewed from a variety of angles; from the inside or looking down from a mezzanine above which each provide their own unique perspective on the exhibit piece.
The enchanting labyrinth of kaleidoscopic colour represents Shiota’s first hometown exhibit in over eight years and has been unveiled as part of Berlin Art Week. The site-specific installation also incorporates a range of metal sculptures that are made to look like skeletons of the hulls of boats that have been caught in a giant net. The nautical boats have become synonymous with Shiota’s work as they have appeared across an array of previous installation, most noticeable at Venice Biennale last year.
“Boats are always travelling, always carrying people, so in a sense we are always in a boat – ready to go but we don’t know exactly where to go. This is the concept that I wanted to express with the boat,” explains Shiota. “Our life is a trip without a destination, we don’t know where we’re going, and it’s easy to say the end is death, but that’s too easy for me. I wanted to emphasise this feeling of travelling with nowhere to,” she adds.
Make sure you pay a visit to Blain | Southern Gallery in Berlin before the exhibition closes on the 12th November 2016.
