Chiharu Shiota’s Suspended Memory at MUDEC

In November 2025, MUDEC will unveil a new, never-before-seen work by Chiharu Shiota. Born in Osaka in 1972 and based in Berlin, Shiota is an internationally renowned artist who represented Japan at the 2015 Venice Biennale and has exhibited in major institutions such as the Centre Pompidou, the Getty, and the MoMA. Using intricate webs of thread - often red or black - her installations evoke invisible bonds, memories, and absences through a visual language charged with tension and emotion.
The Moment the Snow Melts, the title of this work, captures the fleeting instant when snow disappears, transforming notions of loss and time into a suspended landscape: hundreds of interwoven threads converge on sheets of paper that resemble faded traces - presences vanished, yet still lingering in memory. The piece serves as a prelude to a larger exhibition on the theme of snow, scheduled to open at the museum in February 2026. Set within the glass-walled Agorà space, the installation creates a poetic tension between light and emptiness, drawing the viewer into a contemplative, intimate atmosphere. As in her previous works, Shiota investigates the intangible connections between body, memory, and space, offering an immersive and sensorial experience that subtly disturbs the viewer’s perception of the everyday.