“How do you go about making something like this?” I asked in disbelief as I looked at the artwork spread across the room. The artist smiled in confusion, then said: “I started at the top, started at the ceiling, and worked my way down,” as if stringing 400 meters of red yarn into a huge space was the simplest and most natural thing in the world. The large-scale yet transparent artworks in “Unstable Souls” are currently on display at the Prague Art Museum. This exhibition is the first solo exhibition in the Czech Republic by Japanese contemporary artist Chiharu Shiota, known for her captivating installations. Confronting fundamental human questions of life, death, and relationships, Shiota explores human beings in all dimensions by creating presence out of absence, in large-scale thread installations that include a variety of common objects and external souvenirs, or through her paintings. status.
Here, Yantian captures the space of the art gallery and renders it through four main installations into something spectacular, moving and compelling, provoking reflections on our lives and the invisible connections between people and place. The works, some created exclusively for the Prague Kunsthalle, interweave the material and the spiritual, providing visitors with a space to reflect on their own experiences and perceptions. Walking through them, you feel as if you are a cog in some great supernatural machine; you have to see them in person to appreciate the full effect.
Shiota has gained global recognition for her artwork, which weaves together personal history and collective memory through an intricate web of threads. She was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1972 and now lives and works in Berlin. In 2008, she received the Art Encouragement Award from the Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and in the years since, her work has been exhibited at institutions around the world, including the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2023); the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2019); Gropius Bau, Berlin (2019); Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (2018); Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK (2018); Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai (2017); Washington, DC Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution (2014); and Osaka National Museum of Art (2008).
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The Prague Kunsthalle is the newest addition to Prague’s vibrant art scene, hosting short-term art exhibitions. The largest work in “The Restless Soul”, Intersection with fateusing threads as a metaphor for the subtle yet powerful connections between individuals, cultures, and history. The installation was inspired by the Vltava River in Prague that Shiota encountered during his first visit to the city. She sees the river as a symbol of the passage of time, connecting Prague not only to other countries but also to people and their shared stories. This reminds me of the work of the 15th century Italian artist Paolo Uccello through the forest It evokes an intense, dizzying feeling of being lost in the woods.
another piece of work, heart of homeexplores themes that run through much of Yantian’s work. Shiota spent many years living between Japan and Germany, where she explored the concept of home as both a physical space and an emotional state. Red threads are woven into the house-shaped metal structure to represent the bonds of family, culture and belonging. These threads, often linked to bloodlines, reflect not only the artist’s personal sense of an “in-between” place, but also the more universal human desire for connection. Still, viewers are left with an unsettling feeling as they walk through the house-like structures: the vividness of the red is shocking, like blood, and the uniformity and orderliness of the structures create an unsettling feeling feeling.
The red and white dress twirled rapidly and dangerously around the room, causing further unease. In order to further explore personal identity, the artist uses the dress as a symbol of “second skin”, reflecting the boundaries between the inner self and the outer world. Installation, titled multiple realitiesconsists of seven rotating garments and eight hanging objects that move like breathing, creating a haunting organic presence in the dim light. The garments evoke traces of human presence and embody Yantian’s exploration of absent physical presence.
The exhibition also includes powerful installations silent concertcenters on a burned-out piano—an image rooted in one of Yantian’s childhood memories. The sight of a piano reduced to ashes after witnessing a neighbor’s house burn down left a lasting impression on me. The installation captures the haunting absence of sounds and lingering memories that persist even when physical objects are lost, and resonates with Shiota’s ongoing interest in how absence and loss shape our understanding of the world, in recent times. It’s truly stunning to watch from a distance. All in all, The Restless Soul is packed with meaning and a profound insight into the human condition with all its nuances and contradictions. I think this is a place not to be missed.
To complement “The Restless Soul”, the Kunsthalle Prague will publish an illustrated exhibition catalog in February 2025, which will be distributed worldwide by the renowned Berlin publishing house DCV. In addition to a wealth of photographic material from the exhibition, this uniquely designed publication features a hand-stitched Japanese fukurotoji binding.
“Chiharu Shiota: Restless Soul” will run until April 18, 2025, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Prague.
