Another Planet: Chiharu Shiota Solo Exhibition

We have all lost something, and we all yearn for something.

Some lose their health, some lose their dreams… At the end of our lives, we will also lose this body. Some long for the enduring companionship of loved ones, while others aspire to reach the pinnacle of their profession. Along this journey, you may have thought of giving up or wondered how to continue moving forward; you may have come to terms with yourself, or you might still be feeling lost.

There is someone who has had similar experiences and feelings — a girl from a foreign land. She dreamt of becoming an artist because she despised “working like a machine.” She left her home and wandered abroad to study, once lost direction but never gave up. She became a mother, endured the loss of her father, and in 2005 was diagnosed with cancer for the first time. After fighting cancer for 12 years, it recurred, but she continued to create art while undergoing treatment. For 30 years, she has worked without interruption. She is the globally renowned artist Chiharu Shiota, born in Osaka, Japan, in 1972, and now based in Berlin, Germany. To date, she has held over 400 exhibitions in major art museums, biennales, and art fairs around the world. In 2015, she represented Japan at the 56th Venice Biennale, and in 2019, she held a large solo exhibition at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, attracting over 600,000 visitors. In 2021 and 2023, her exhibitions in Shanghai and Shenzhen, China, drew nearly 500,000 visitors.

Using more than 600 kilometers of thread, she created a universe of dreams. Even if you have never heard her name, you may have seen her soul-stirring, awe-inspiring artwork. The red threads symbolize the connection between people, weaving together the stories of countless strangers. The white threads represent purity, death, new beginnings, and the cycle of life. The black threads symbolize the night sky and the darkness that stretches from dreams to the depths of the universe, guiding us to a new world that seems both distant and familiar, beyond reality.

From September 27, 2024, to February 16, 2025 (open to the public from September 28), the globally renowned artist Chiharu Shiota will bring her first solo exhibition in Southwest China, a new thematic exhibition titled *Echoes of the Universe (Another Planet)*, to Chengdu! Hosted by A4 Art Museum, located at the Mountain-top plaza in LuxeTown, Tianfu New Area, and curated by Director Sunny Sun, this exhibition will present nearly 30 of Chiharu Shiota’s important works to the Southwest audience, including 3 large-scale installations and over 20 recent paintings and small sculptures being exhibited in China for the first time. One of the large-scale installations was specially created for this exhibition, in collaboration with A4 Art Museum, gathering 5,000 wishes from children across the country. This piece will be titled *What do you wish for?*.

A4 Art Museum and Chiharu Shiota hope that this new exhibition will lead the audience beyond reality and everyday life into a dream world that is both familiar and strange, perhaps elusive yet always longed for. It will inspire new reflections on life and the self, using the healing power of art to untangle the threads of the soul!

*The images on this page are from the artist’s previous exhibitions, for reference only. Images provided by Chiharu Shiota Studio ©VG Bild-Kunst, 2024 and the artist. Unauthorized reuse is prohibited.