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The latest artist to take over the vaulted depths of Copenhagen’s subterranean Cisternerne, Chiharu Shiota has woven together a poetic landscape of white yarn to create a ‘labyrinth within a labyrinth’ that is both serene and unsettling

- MINAKO NORIMATSU

Chiharu Shiota has amazed us again with a monumental installation in the eerie underworld of the Cisternerne in Copenhagen. ‘I tried to create an illusion in this otherworldly environment; a labyrinth within a labyrinth,’ explains the Berlin-based Japanese artist. At the invitation of curator Astrid la Cour, Shiota first visited the museum three years ago during Jeppe Hein’s exhibition ‘In is the Only Way Out’ and was inspired by the space. ‘This place is absolutely unique in its architecture and presence of water,’ she explains. ‘And it gives artists total freedom. Jeppe was using fire! I instantly had the idea to play with water; flowing and dynamic water that makes us feel the force of life.’

Titled Multiple Realities, Shiota’s installation is the latest iteration in the Cisternerne’s all star series of annual commissions, which has previously featured Tomás Saraceno (W*254), Superflex, Hiroshi Sambuichi and Eva Koch. It spreads out on 1,000 sq m of underground space, where water drips down stone walls and alcoves and flows slowly across the floor.