New Zealand | Chiharu Shiota at Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington

The web of time, an installation by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota, creates the vision of a night sky studded with constellations of numbers. The installation opens at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington on 12 December and runs until late 2021 (end date not yet finalised).

‘I want the viewer to reflect on their inner self, on their life – past, present, and future…’

– Chiharu Shiota

Enter a vision of the universe.

In The web of time, countless intertwined strands connect numbers across time and space.

These numbers – scattered like stars in the night sky – represent meaningful dates in history, both collective and personal.

Berlin-based artist Chiharu Shiota says, ‘Numbers comfort us. We share dates that are important to us, and they help us understand ourselves.’

The web of time is part of Te Papa’s permanent collection.

Shiota was born in Osaka, Japan in 1972 and now lives and works in Berlin. Her inspiration often emerges from a personal experience or emotion which she expands into universal human concerns such as life, death, and relationships. She has redefined the concept of memory and consciousness by collecting ordinary objects such as shoes, keys, beds, chairs, and dresses and engulfing them in immense thread structures.