Two Home Countries
Japan Society, New York City, 2025
Artist: Chiharu Shiota
Curated by: Michele Bambling
Research: Naomi Kuromiya
Exhibition logistics: Stefani Oh
Gallery Interns: Camille Chang, Yeeun Joo, Grace Kim, Yeonjoo Kim, Stephanie Wang
Graphic Design: Mohammed Juma
Lighting Design: Takaaki Ando
Fabrication: Isaac Dunne, Jake Reed
Installation & art handling: WittsART
Vinyl installation: DaSign Guy
Photo credits: Go Sugimoto
Curtesy: Japan Society
Commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, Chiharu Shiota: Two Home Countries centers on a newly commissioned, site-specific installation that explores the experiences and memories of wartime. Placing this original installation in dialogue with other works from Shiota’s oeuvre, the exhibition draws parallels between the humanitarian tragedy of war and the artist’s personal struggles—her confrontation with mortality and her bicultural identity, shaped by living between two home countries. By intertwining collective and personal experiences of memory and loss, the exhibition reflects on universal themes such as history, humanity, time, space, the body, and national identity.
The exhibition also documents the conceptualization and creative process behind Shiota’s stage set for Japan Society’s theater commission KINKAKUJI (Temple of the Golden Pavilion), which premiered on the exhibition’s opening night. Based on the novel by the legendary Japanese author Yukio Mishima (1925–1970), the performance marks the centennial of his birth and introduces Shiota’s innovative and deeply personal stage design to American audiences for the first time.
The exhibition design emphasizes the adaptability of Shiota’s works across diverse spatial contexts. The placement of each piece responds to the environmental characteristics of its setting: open spaces, offering distant and all-encompassing perspectives, were chosen for site-specific installations and coordinated groupings of works, while more intimate environments were reserved for video pieces and projections. In areas where separate works could not coexist, custom partition elements were introduced—both to define spatial boundaries and to serve as integral display surfaces.