Chiharu Shiota’s life experiences and the string she used in her art works

Chiharu Shiota’s life experiences and the string she used in her art works

MDes Interior Design/GSA Jingwen Wang Design Theory 1283 Words

Synopsis In this visual essay I am exploring material use with the relation of artist’s life experience. Some artists use different materials to express the concept of their works, the materials varies from the projects. Chiharu Shiota did not choose the commonly material for decoration, but show special preference to string. String to Chiharu, is more like canvas, is two-dimensional space, the process of knitting yarn is like drawing a picture which creating unlimited space, as if formed a universe. She started using strings and making lines in her work after 1994. There must be a reason or a turning point in her life changed the way of representation of her installations. The ways she using materials to interpret projects was important for me, as a design student, it is essential for me to find a proper material to express my design and general idea. When talking about the material, we cannot simply show a result, but to form a feeling. In addition, it should be powerful and persuasive. Although designers are attribute to solve problems and balance the aesthetics and usage. A good designer is more like an artist, his/her work tells his/her own stories and his/her works have inimitable symbol and it cannot be replaced. I watched the interview videos and documentaries trying to find out why she is crazy about using strings as main material to create all of her art works.

Content Introduction

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Chiharu Shiota Biography

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Red String

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Over the Continents

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The Key in the Hand

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Uncertain Journey

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Infinity Lines

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Black String

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During sleep

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In silence

14

White String

15

Where are we going

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Beyond time

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Conclusionďźš

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Ilustrations:

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Referenceďźš

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Introduction In this essay, I am going to talk about Shiota’s work based on different color of strings and analyze the relationship between her life experience and her art works. I will focus on the background and the inspiration of her works.

My analysis is based on materials and her life experience and how she explore of space, objects, materials and dimensions.

Chiharu Shiota Biography Chiharu Shiota was born in Osaka, Japan, learning painting in early years. After moving to Germany she studied from

Roman Abramovich, and started creation in the field of device, behavior and video. String is the most important medium of her creation in three-dimensional space of.

Red String Red in Asia has a very strong meaning and so does string .Red yarn is the red of blood, it is also a symbol for relationship ( Bloomberg, 2017). Links between the red lines not only represents the ideas, but a symbol of the diverse and infinite lineage between all the audiences, Chiharu Shiota’s uses a simple split line and plane combination to represent the complexity of the human body (Het Noordbrabants Museum, 2017). Thread woven grow into an endless maze of the cosmos, it will become blurred look into the distance view, as if these lines are redundant, and this blur just form a boundary.

Figure 1

Over the Continents, 2014

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This large-scale shoe installation has more to do with the viewer's thoughts. Each shoe is tied with the owner's message. There are shoes that wore during the wedding, and those belong to the husband who passed away. There are quite a lot of relics. One pair of shoes are a wheelchair person who bought the shoes in order to stand up again despite he could not walk anymore, so he sent the shoes that he could not use. Chiharu connected all the feeling or all memory of shoes with red line to show her miss for homeland since her didn’t back to Japan for 3 years at that time (Washington Post, 2014).

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The Key in the Hand, 2015 As the video (International Art magazine, 2015) showed, this device used 50000 daily use keys collected from citizens worldwide, aims to explore the concept of memory. Chiharu named the work “key in the hand� to symbolize the hand supporting precious key and letting it in our heart. Holding a key means people have a chance to open a door to explore another unknown world and the boats

represent hands.

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Uncertain Journey, 2016 The documentary ( Bloomberg, 2017) showed that the installation Uncertain Journey contains full of metaphors, for her, the boat is a symbol for a journey, she used the red yarn to show complex neural connection in human body, people are ready to go but don’t know where to go. This installation is Chiharu thought about the significance of fate and belonging.

Infinity Lines, 2017 Shiota has incorporated antique wooden chairs that show evidence of their previous use. Red yarn connects one chair to another and also to the surfaces of the gallery itself, filling the space and tying individual stories and memories together, like neurons mapping memories in the brain (SCAD Museum of Art, 2017). Just as memories and life experiences stay with each individual throughout their lives, the objects in the exhibition retain the personal histories of their owners and symbolically link present and past.

"Infinity Lines" SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, USA, Courtesy of Savannah College of Art and Design

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Black String Black string symbolize the black night sky, the universe, the eternal black depth of infinity (Bloomberg, 2017).

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During sleep, 2005 For During Sleep (all works 2005), Shiota created a room with wool threads making an impenetrable labyrinth in whose center a bed floats surreally, surrounded by a forest of cobwebs (Fricke, 2006). When she arrived in Germany in 1996, she moved 9 times in the first 3 years which made she don’t know where she was. She cannot tell by whether she was in Japan or German after she get up when I dreaming of Japan. So, she started to weave my bed at my home in Berlin to reinforce the sense of belonging.

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These series of works are created after Shiota were diagnosed with ovarian cancer, she used bed to express the beginning and end of life.

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In silence, 2008 For Shiota, life, memory, space are all parts of her own experience. She recalls that when she was 9 years old, her neighbor’s house caught fire. She saw the burnt piano and felt the silence for the first time. The piano is so wonderful in fire compared to it worked. 20 years later, she visualized the feelings hidden in her heart, which cannot be described in her childhood, into "in silence."

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White String

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"Where are we going?" 2017, Le Bon MarchĂŠ Rive Gauche, Paris, Photo by Gabriel de la Chapelle

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Where are we going, 2017 These small boats represent different cultures and individuals in human society, no one knows where they will go, but what is certain is that they have the ability to move

forward to explore the world (Le Bon MarchĂŠ Rive Gauche, 2017). This exhibition is the first time that Shiota uses white string as a material to create an artistic installation.

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"Beyond Time", 2018, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK, photo by Jonty Wilde

Beyond time,2018 “For me, beyond time means memory. It is something that you can sense; some existence, and I want to weave this invisible being to express an existence beyond our present. This is the meaning behind the title.

This chapel has a lot of history and a lot of human memory and stories and I wanted to connect all the stories. I put a mental piano. The piano has no sound; no music, but I wanted to make music with my string.”

——Chiharu Shiota (Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 2018)

Conclusion Chiharu Shiota’s background was painting, She started to think about her existence since she learned with Marina Abramovich and started working with yarn. For her, painting was just color and there’s no meaning. She wanted to make drawings in the air and started

using string and making lines. String, for her, is like drawing in the air, also, the relationship from human to human and is like a mirror of her feelings. From her works we can see, she used red line to express sad and upset while using black lines when facing to fear and white strings represent purity and death. Her artistic world as if is surrounded with a silk thread space with gentle and tension, is full of emotional clues.

Illustrations 1."Rain of Memories" Ferenczy Múzeum, Szentendre, Hungary, Photo by Deim Balázs 2. Over the Continents［Smithsonian Institution Arthur M.Sackler Gallery, Washington D.C. / USA］photo by John Tsantes 3. Over the Continents［Smithsonian Institution Arthur M.Sackler Gallery, Washington D.C. / USA］photo by John Tsantes 4. "The Key in the Hand" at the Japan Pavilion, 56th International Art Exhibition - la Biennale di Venezia, Venice / Italy 5. "The Key in the Hand" at the Japan Pavilion, 56th International Art Exhibition - la Biennale di Venezia, Venice / Italy 6. "The Key in the Hand" at the Japan Pavilion, 56th International Art Exhibition - la Biennale di Venezia, Venice / Italy 7. "Uncertain Journey" 2016, Blain | Southern, Berlin, Germany, photo by Sunhi Mang 8. "Uncertain Journey" 2016, Blain | Southern, Berlin, Germany, photo by Sunhi Mang 9. "Uncertain Journey" 2016, Blain | Southern, Berlin, Germany, photo by Sunhi Mang 10. "Infinity Lines" SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, USA, Courtesy of Savannah College of Art and Design 11. "Infinity Lines" SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, USA, Courtesy of Savannah College of Art and Design 12. Conscious Sleep, Venue: Cockatoo Island, 23th Biennale of Sydney, photo by Paul Green 13. During Sleep [Herzliya Museum of Art, Herzliya] 14. During Sleep [Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne] 15. "During Sleep" 2017, Herning Biennale, Denmark, cortesy of the artist 16. Sleeping is like Death, Galerie Daniel Templon, Brussel, photo by Isabelle Arthuis 17. Performance view of "Sleeping is like Death", Galerie Daniel Templon, Brussel, photo by José Huedo 18. In Silence [CentrePasquArt, Biel - Bienne ] 19. In Silence [CentrePasquArt, Biel - Bienne ] 20. In Silence [CentrePasquArt, Biel - Bienne ] 21. "Memory of the Ocean" 2017, Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche, Paris, Photo by Gabriel de La Chapelle 22. "Where are we going?" 2017, Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche, Paris, Photo by Gabriel de la Chapelle 23."Where are we going?" 2017, Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche, Paris, Photo by Gabriel de la Chapelle 24. "Where are we going?" 2017, Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche, Paris, Photo by Gabriel de la Chapelle 25."Beyond Time", 2018, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK, photo by Jonty Wilde 26."Beyond Time", 2018, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK, photo by Jonty Wilde

Bibliography Bloomberg, 2017. The Theatricality of Chiharu Shiota's Art | Brilliant Ideas Ep. 52. [video online] Available at: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULpxdHy0eZc > [Accessed 25 November 2018].

Het Noordbrabants Museum, 2017. Time Lapse opbouw Chiharu Shiota in Het Noordbrabants Museum. [video online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z70WbxbGKhY > [Accessed 25 November 2018].

Washington Post,2014. If the shoe fits: Artist weaves memories together. [video online] Available at: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5hc1xq1jDM&t=36s > [Accessed 25 November 2018].

International Art magazine, 2015. Venice Biennale 2015. Chiharu Shiota. Japan Pavilion. [video online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GolS9Db3BMM&t=14s> [Accessed 25 November 2018].

Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 2018. Chiharu Shiota: Beyond Time. [video online] Available at: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L51F-TLl_Tk&t=11s > [Accessed 25 November 2018].

Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche, 2017. Chiharu Shiota - Where are we going. [video online] Available at: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_bdWoWjeVc&list=PLvWejuxH1GxLqpkjyz-9JA_pWdByIVRCg&index=1> [Accessed 25 November 2018].

SCAD Museum of Art, 2017. Chiharu Shiota'INFINITY LINES'. [online] Available at: < https://www.scadmoa.org/exhibitions/2017/infinity-lines >

[Accessed 25 November 2018].

Fricke, H. 2006, Chiharu Shiota: Haus am Lutzowplatz, Artforum International Magazine, Inc.