Museum report·Montreal
Chiharu Shiota's thread installations reach North America via Montreal
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts will stage the North American premiere of 'Chiharu Shiota: The Soul Trembles,' co-organized with Tokyo's Mori Art Museum, from September 26, 2026 to February 14, 2027. Merck Canada is the presenting partner; the retrospective spans three decades of the Berlin-based artist's work.

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is bringing Chiharu Shiota's celebrated practice to North America for the first time. The retrospective, organized with the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, surveys more than thirty years of the Berlin-based Japanese artist's work, from September 26, 2026 through February 14, 2027. At its heart are Shiota's signature site-specific thread installations, painstakingly woven by hand in the gallery, presented alongside eight sculptures, performance videos, drawings and rare archival documents. The exhibition draws on the artist's own health experiences, giving physical form to vulnerability, memory and hope. Merck Canada, the presenting partner, is also collaborating with the museum on an art-and-health initiative inspired by the show's themes of life and mortality: custom-designed art and wellness visits and workshops tailored for community groups affected by cancer, their families and caregivers.


