THE WALL BEHIND THE WINDOWS

This one narrative is exemplary for Shiota’s work, in constant discourse with her surroundings and incorporating the energy of a given space or environment. This is equally true for the current exhibition at König Galerie. Originally, the building was a monumental former Brutalist church built in the 1960s before it was converted by Johann König to his gallery in 2015. As a result, an ineffable feeling remains within the space. In addition, König Galerie is also located very close to the historical route of the Berlin Wall. Therefore, the gallery is not a traditional White Cube, but the space is inextricably linked to the history of the city.

For the installation, THE WALL BEHIND THE WINDOWS, Shiota endeavors to “reflect the unseen dimension of our ordinary life. It is like grasping something that is not there, but you can still feel it.” Within the space, Shiota hangs her windows within the room, but behind the windows, the wall remains. After two decades of working with windows as a material, Shiota is combining thread with windows for the very first time. While the artist fills the room with red thread, visualizing societal connections, she has placed a sewing machine at its center, conjuring the spectre of memory within the room, offering an occasion to empathize with the people that originally looked through these windows, from East to West. The artist points out that “The brick wall of the room is exposed behind the windows but engulfed in a web of connections. It is almost like a cocoon of memory.”