Chiharu Shiota: The Space Between Us

"Within the conceptual horizon of THRESHOLDS (LIMIARES), Chiharu Shiota's work operates as a transitional field between presence and trace, materiality and imagination. Her installations create atmospheres in which the visitor moves through zones of sensory and emotional instability, making the threshold itself a felt experience," says Tereza de Arruda, curator of the "Poetics of Memory and Matter" exhibition core at Museu Oscar Niemeyer (MON). The works engage directly with MON's architecture and investigate central questions in the artist's practice: memory, belonging, displacement and vulnerability. Seemingly ordinary objects become silent witnesses to human experience, carrying traces of lives and their displacements. To compose "The Space Between Us," the Biennial issued an open call inviting the public to send letters, drawings, collages and personal accounts to be woven into the collective work presented at MON. "Each of us carries a universe within, one that is rarely visible to others. Art can open a space where we express what usually remains hidden," says Chiharu Shiota. "My work always begins from a personal feeling, but I want it to move from the 'I' to the 'we.' By bringing together thousands of objects and stories from many people, the work creates universal human connections." Shiota also describes a personal connection to Brazil: "I really admire the work of Ernesto Neto and Tomie Ohtake. In a way, I identify with Tomie's story: she left Japan and built her path in another country, just as I did in Germany." Of MON's building, she adds: "It is not an easy space to work with because of its curves, but I believe that creates a very special energy for the installation." The installation uses approximately 300 kilometers of thread, roughly the distance between Curitiba and Florianópolis, making it the largest site-specific work the artist has created in South America.