Memory of Materials: Chiharu Shiota & Yin Xiuzhen — Panel Discussion
Curators, writers and scholars explore the ideas behind the Hayward Gallery's parallel exhibitions by Chiharu Shiota and Yin Xiuzhen, two artists obsessed with material memory.
Why we picked this
Two artists working across vastly different traditions — Shiota's monumental thread installations and Xiuzhen's assemblages of discarded clothing — share a preoccupation with material memory that this panel examines through curatorial and critical lenses.
The Hayward Gallery’s spring 2026 season presents two major exhibitions in parallel: Chiharu Shiota: Threads of Life, in which the Berlin-based Japanese artist fills galleries with vast, web-like installations of black and red thread, and Yin Xiuzhen: Heart to Heart, in which the Beijing artist constructs immersive environments from gathered coats, shoes, and found objects. Both exhibitions run through 3 May 2026.
This panel discussion at the Purcell Room brings together curators, writers and scholars to explore the conceptual territory the two practices share and diverge across — questions of bodily absence, collective memory, diaspora, and what objects carry after they leave the hands of their owners. Though the artists come from different cultural backgrounds and work in different registers, both treat the discarded material of ordinary life as a site of emotional and historical accumulation. The conversation offers an intellectual companion to the exhibitions without requiring prior academic knowledge.
Tickets are available via the Southbank Centre website. The Hayward Gallery exhibitions can be visited separately; a single ticket covers both shows.