Chi­haru Shiota
The Home Within

Chi­haru Shio­ta was invit­ed by the Mel­bourne Fes­ti­val to cre­ate a mon­u­men­tal pub­lic work, The Home With­in, 2016, in which the artist reveals the embod­i­ment of the tran­sient home. Woven again in her sig­na­ture red thread, the 7 meter high ethe­re­al struc­ture trav­elled to sig­nif­i­cant loca­tions across Mel­bourne for the dura­tion of the fes­ti­val in late 2016 includ­ing Fed­er­a­tion Square, the Meat Mar­ket and Mel­bourne Town Hall.

A house is a struc­ture. A home is a body. You are its heart.

Step inside a struc­ture that com­bines the weight of archi­tec­ture and the ephemer­al­i­ty of organ­ic life. Web­like lines of tex­tured red string pulse like a bil­lion veins, but en masse they form walls as straight and sol­id as a slide-rule. Are the bor­ders between this building’s exte­ri­or and inte­ri­or any more reli­able than our own? - Mel­bourne Fes­ti­val 2016

[cap­tion id=“attachment_5195” align=“alignleft” width=“600”] The Home With­in, 2016. Instal­la­tion view Mel­bourne Town Hall. Pho­tog­ra­phy: James Henry.[/caption]

[cap­tion id=“attachment_5197” align=“alignleft” width=“600”] The Home With­in, 2016. Instal­la­tion view Mel­bourne Town Hall. Pho­tog­ra­phy: James Henry.[/caption]

[cap­tion id=“attachment_5206” align=“alignleft” width=“600”] The Home With­in, 2016. Instal­la­tion view Mel­bourne Town Hall. Pho­tog­ra­phy: James Henry.[/caption]

[cap­tion id=“attachment_5201” align=“alignleft” width=“600”] The Home With­in, 2016. Instal­la­tion view Deakin Edge, Fed­er­a­tion Square.[/caption]

[cap­tion id=“attachment_5199” align=“alignleft” width=“600”] The Home With­in, 2016. Instal­la­tion view the Meat Mar­ket, Melbourne.[/caption]