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An epic 'thread' artwork made from thousands of metres of yarn shows the Other Side

Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota has been commissioned by contemporary art museum Towner in Eastbourne to create one of her monumental signature ‘thread’ installations as part of her first solo show in the UK.

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Via Creative Boom submission. All images courtesy of the artist.

Via Creative Boom submission. All images courtesy of the artist.

Called 'Other Side', the large-scale installation consumes Towner’s upper gallery, presenting a façade of five wooden doors caught in a dense dark tangle of thousands of metres of black yarn extending from wall to wall, and from ceiling to floor. The doors lead into the huge otherworldly cocoon, connected by a labyrinthine passage dimly illuminated by bare light bulbs. Immersive, disorientating and contemplative, the artwork slows and disrupts navigation through and around it.

In a work that has taken almost three years to develop, Shiota describes her Towner installation as “a thread installation with doors”, saying “The doors are doors that used to be in Berlin apartments. I'm sure they could tell a lot of stories. Doors also open and close, just as people enter our lives and leave them again. All these elements manifest themselves in memories.“

Chiharu Shiota's Other Side is at Towner, Eastbourne 11 October 2013 - 5 January 2014. Find out more at www.townereastbourne.org.uk.

Interior view of Chiharu Shiota's Other Side installation, showing a cocoon-like space densely wrapped in black yarn with a distant illuminated light bulb
A dimly lit passage lined with black yarn creating a dense tangle on both sides, with bare light bulbs illuminating the narrow corridor ahead
Two cream-coloured doors stand apart in a dark room wrapped in thousands of metres of black yarn, illuminated by bare light bulbs suspended from above in Chiharu Shiota's Other Side installation
Interior of Chiharu Shiota's Other Side installation showing a dark passage woven with thousands of metres of black yarn and illuminated by bare light bulbs
Visitors walk through Chiharu Shiota's 'Other Side' installation, surrounded by dense black yarn forming an immersive cocoon with overhead lighting
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