CHIHARU SHIOTA – I HOPE…
2021-01-11On entering the space, there was immediately a strong sense that this was about something quintessential, all too quintessential, in fact, that concerned all of humanity, without exception. Overhead was a handwoven sky of bright red yarn from which hung 180,000 metal keys from all corners of the Earth, floating like stars of life almost close enough to touch. Beneath them, resting on beams like bodies, were two old wooden boats, which, proclaiming the absence of people, had forever fallen out of time.
Rising out of the boats, knotted together like spider webs, the threads reached skywards. They interlinked not only the keys but also the Earth and the universe. In places they were so densely intertwined as to appear dark; elsewhere they were so loosely arranged as to let the light from above shine through like a symbol of hope. Forming a blood-red cloud-spectre, the threads suggested motion, calling to mind an upturned wave, and involuntarily conjuring associations with the oceans and water as the origin of all life. Around the boats, the floor was strewn with keys that looked like fallen leaves, as if their owners had lost part of their lives with them. Symbols of the threshold between inside and out, the keys were reminiscent of the shape of human silhouettes, with heads and feet.
Opposite – Installation view
Exhibition runs through to February 28th, 2021
König Galerie
St. Agnes – Alexandrinenstr, 118-121
10969 Berlin
