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Chiharu Shiota — Where are we going?

Autobiography & design

2 min readMar 16, 2018
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“Where are we going” was a 2017 installation by Chiharu Shiota inside the Le Bon Marché department store in Paris. It consists of complex mesh labyrinths, as well as 150 boats woven out of white yarn suspended off the roof to appear as if it is sailing across the space. The result is an all-white abyss where the viewer is taken on a journey of mystery and wonder, as if they were under the sea. This space is inspired by Shiota’s own childhood experience of boats:

“when I was a child, during vacation, my family would take the ferry to go from osaka to kochi. we would spend the night there. the next day, it was like we were in a new world: the world of vacation and sea.”

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‘Memory of the Ocean’ labyrinths evokes the sensation of being underwater

Many of Shiota’s spaces are autobiographical and explore her memories of loss during her childhood. ‘In Silence’, which featured a scene of an abandoned piano concert concealed by a complex network of black yarn, refers to a childhood memory where she witnessed the house of her neighbour burning to the ground.

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‘In Silence’, 2013
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