Chiharu Shiota: The Moment the Snow Melts

The Moment the Snow Melts is a new immersive, site-specific installation by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota, which reimagines the Agora—the heart of MUDEC.

The installation transforms this iconic space into an evanescent landscape of white threads cascading vertically from the ceiling. Suspended among them are notes and pieces of paper inscribed with the names of individuals who have crossed our paths, but with whom connections have since been severed.

Even before the opening, the public was invited to participate in the installation by contributing personal thoughts or drawings on paper—submitted via a dedicated collection box within the museum or submitted digitally. By incorporating collective memories, Shiota alters the emotional resonance of the space: “It’s only through the collective experience that it becomes art. It’s no longer private, but public”, notes the artist.

Chiharu Shiota’s suspended snowfall is intended as a space for meditation, where the public can experience the presence of absence. For Shiota, “melting snow represents the final moments of something coming to an end; it is the last echo. It evokes the end of a long silence and the retreat of the cold that once held everything in its tight grip”.

Using the ephemeral nature of snow as a metaphor to reflect on human relationships, the artist explores how bonds inevitably begin and end. The bonds, represented by threads, fade with time, often leaving feelings of frustration and sadness in their place. The names written on the paper serve as a reminder that even if something or someone is lost, they will not be forgotten, and that, with time, a new spring will come. The time Shiota refers to in her installation is not linear, but cyclical. The balance between connection and separation in this case takes the form of a swirling yet frozen, motionless snowfall. 

Chiharu Shiota (b. 1972)—who represented Japan at the 2015 Venice Biennale—often draws inspiration from a personal experience or emotion, which she expands into universal concerns such as life, death, and relationships. Shiota has redefined the concept of memory and consciousness by collecting ordinary objects—such as shoes, keys, beds, chairs, and clothing—and engulfing them in immense thread structures. Through her work, she explores the sensation of a “presence in absence,” while also expressing intangible emotions across a range of media, including sculptures, drawings, performance videos, photographs, and canvases.

As part of the museum’s ongoing engagement with contemporary issues and practices, MUDEC—Museum of Cultures presents its fourth site-specific installation for autumn 2025 which is part of the broader exhibition project The Sense of Snow. Peoples, Ancient Art, and Contemporary Perspectives (February 12 - June 28, 2026), presented as part of the cultural program for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.

Organized in collaboration with the MIPAM network (Italian Museums with World Heritage network), The Sense of Snow offers a multidisciplinary narrative merging science, art, and anthropology. The exhibition features over 150 works, including paintings, installations, and ethnographic artifacts.

Contemporary artists including Shimabuku, Xu Zhen, Irene Kopelman, Walter Niedermayr, and Zhang Huan engage with urgent socio-ecological issues such as climate change and overtourism. The special section in the curved vitrines of the Agora features When Fox is a Thousand, an installation by Summer Mei-Ling Lee. The exhibition also traces the evolution of snow and ice in Western art history—from background scenic elements to central metaphorical subjects, culminating in 20th-century conceptual masterworks by artists such as Judy Chicago and Barbara T. Smith.

In Japanese visual culture, snow plays a deeply symbolic role, evoking concepts of purity, silence, and ephemeral beauty. This ethos resonates through the ukiyo-e woodblock prints of Hiroshige and Kunisada featured in the exhibition, bridging historical tradition with Chiharu Shiota’s contemporary intervention.

The Moment the Snow melts is curated by Sara Rizzo with the support of 24 ORE Cultura. The initiative is part of the Milan Cortina 2026 Cultural Olympics.