Chiharu Shiota: Unter der Haut / Under the Skin
Kunsthalle Rostock
May 5—June 18, 2017


Exhibition invitation

Photo: Thomas Haentzschel

Photo: Thomas Haentzschel

Photo: Thomas Haentzschel

Photo: Thomas Haentzschel

Photo: Thomas Haentzschel

Photo: Thomas Haentzschel

Photo: Thomas Haentzschel


Exhibition opening

Photo: Pedro Fredo

Photo: Pedro Fredo

Photo: Pedro Fredo

Photo: Pedro Fredo

Photo: Pedro Fredo

Photo: Pedro Fredo

Becoming Painting, 1994, photo from the performance with the same name, ANU School of Art, Canberra, Australia, Photo by Ben Stone

Becoming Painting, 1994, photo from the performance with the same name, ANU School of Art, Canberra, Australia, Photo by Ben Stone

Try and Go Home, 1997, performance after 4 days of fasting, Domaine de Kerguéhennec, Bignan, France, Photo by Frank Begemann

Try and Go Home, 1997, performance after 4 days of fasting, Domaine de Kerguéhennec, Bignan, France, Photo by Frank Begemann

Bathroom, 1999, video, b/w, sound, 3:4, 5'10''

Bathroom, 1999, video, b/w, sound, 3:4, 5'10''

Wall, 2010, vide, color, sound, 16:9, 3'39''

Wall, 2010, vide, color, sound, 16:9, 3'39''

Earth and Blood, 2014, detail, c-print, 74 x 119 cm

Earth and Blood, 2014, detail, c-print, 74 x 119 cm

How did you come into the world?, 2012/2015, 4 channel video installation, color, sound, 16:9, each 1'

How did you come into the world?, 2012/2015, 4 channel video installation, color, sound, 16:9, each 1'

The Key in the Hand, 2015, c-print, 40 x 52 cm

Letters of Thanks, 2015, installation at Sesc, Pinheiros, Brasil foto Gal Oppido

Letters of Thanks, 2016, installation at KOS Museum of Art in Public Spaces, Koge, Denmark, foto Hans Ole Madsen

Letters of Thanks, 2015, installation at Sesc, Pinheiros, Brasil foto Gal Oppido

Letters of Thanks, 2015, installation at Sesc, Pinheiros, Brasil foto Gal Oppido

Letters of Thanks, 2016, installation at KOS Museum of Art in Public Spaces, Koge, Denmark, foto Hans Ole Madsen



Download press release [english] [german]

The Kunsthalle Rostock presents „Under the Skin“, the first retrospective of Chiharu Shiota, an Japanese artist living in Berlin, which was designed on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of her arrival to Germany. The exhibition has been curated by Tereza de Arruda who has worked with the artists since 2010 and was, amongst others, the curator of her solo exhibition „Searching for Destination" (2015,) presented at the SESC São Paulo, and of her contribution to the group exhibition „In your Heart/In your city" (2016) at the Køs Museum of art in public spaces in Denmark.

Chiharu Shiota was born in Osaka in 1972. She studied painting at the Kyoto Seika University first. Even then, she felt that painting was not able to satisfy her artistic needs. Her first stay abroad was at the Canberra School of Art in Australia from 1993 to 1994. Her first Performance Becoming Painting was created in this context – and it was here where she liberated herself from conventional image media, turned her existence into the main protagonist of her art work and created a direct imagery for conveying her artistic oeuvre. At Becoming Painting, Chiharu Shiota became, by using white fabric and red enamel paint, part of a painting. Thus, she made a dream come true which she had some nights before, but also her wish to enhance her artistic perspective. This first performance shaped her life. The work was documented in photographs which show the contemporary spectator the image of a fragile, red-impregnated body. It is a distanced and scared girl who is staring at us.

Accumulation – a fabric made of black yarn that creates a room in the room - was also made during her exchange year in Australia. Visible nodes connect single lines, thoughts and traces that hide the manufacturing process that is both, tedious and time consuming, inside.

After completing her studies in Japan, the young artist was sure that she had to separate herself not only from traditional painting, but also from her local environment to find her own way. She studied Visual Art at the University of Visual Arts Braunschweig from 1997 to 1999 and at the University of Arts Berlin from 1999 to 2003.

From 2015 when she presented at the Japanese pavilon of the Bienial in Venice latest, Chiharu Shiota is one of the most sought-after artists of the world. She consequently and carefully followed the tedious way there. She is considered as the first artist living outside Japan that was allowed to present at the national pavilion in Venice.

The exhibition „Under the Skin" shows more than 60 works of Chiharu Shiota which have been created since 1993, including photographs, videos, drawings, graphic reproductions and objects that reflect the artist’s career. They were chosen from the artists private archive and carefully document the single stations of her works. As the majority of her works is site-specific and of temporary character, many works exist in the spectator’s memory only by now and live on in the labyrinth of collective memories. Thus, their real absence has been overcome.

For the WhiteCube at the Kunsthalle Rostock, Chiharu Shiota created a site-specific installation called „Letters of Thanks". For this, letters of thanks were collected in a local campaign and integrated into the installation at Kunsthalle Rostock together with sent letters from Japan, Denmark and Brasil where this work has already been implemented. The implementation of this work derived from an impulse of thankfulness of the artist towards her personal context. She transfers her own experiences in an attempt to encourage people to verbalize feelings that are hard to express. By using new media, relationships have become virtual and more abstract. The speed of SMS, WhatsApp, WeChat, Facebook, Twitter and other communication media prevent the the selection of specific and personal expressions. Writing letters shall become part of a deceleration process of exhibition participants. The receivers are god, family members, friends, the universe...

The senders are free to decide if they want to remain anonymous or present themselves openly via their signature. In the end, the letters wer integrated into the floating empty structure made of black threads. This creates new connections, niches and feeling of comfort in the exhibition room. The artist is happy where she arouses emotions of her audience.

A second site-specific installation is positioned in the sculpture hall. The visitors are welcomed by a cloud made of floating white boats. Their structures are shaped out of nets which makes the objects transparent. Boats are part of local history at the Hanseatic City of Rostock. From her contribution to the Bienial in Venice two year ago on, boats have also been part of Chiharu Shiotas artistic oeuvre. Independent from the function, the shape reminds of half closed hands that receive and store the personal and private.

The retrospective "Under the Skin" presents the works Chiharu Shiota has created over the past twenty years. She celebrates the 20th anniversary of her stay in Germany here. At the same time, the collected experiences and inspirations shall be integrated into the collective memory as a part of future transcendencies.

Accompanying program:
Guided tours by Tereza de Arruda, Curator of the Exhibition
05.05.2017 at 16 o‘clock
16.05.2017 at 18 o‘clock



Kunsthalle Rostock [visit website]
Hamburger Str. 40, 18069 Rostock
Exhibition period: May 5—June 18, 2017