Chiharu Shiota 'The Key In The Hand' Installation @ La Biennale di Venezia

During this year’s 2015 Venice Art Biennale, contemporary Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota created an immersive and wholly intricate instillation of intertwined yarn at the event’s Japan pavilion for her aptly titled “The Key In The Hand” exhibit. Constructed as a tightly woven ceiling maze of 50,000 suspended keys, the instillation manages to subdue the empty pavilion below as meters of fabric fall down to form an undulating path under which viewers can travel. Adorning the hall’s floor space is two worn boats that seemingly catch the web of interlaced keys as they fall heavily over them to form a tunnel-like partition in the mass of red yarn. By utilizing keys collected from people and places all around the world, the project aims to trigger a feeling of recollection and memory by withholding the notion of “keys are familiar and very valuable things that protect important people and spaces in our lives – they also inspire us to open the door to unknown worlds.” For more information on the immersive and interesting work of artist Chiharu Shiota, check out her website here.