The Hayward Gallery’s latest double bill is sure to draw in the crowds with Chiharu Shiota‘s iconic thread installations as part of its 75th anniversary celebrations, but the works of Yin Xiuzhen are no slouch either. A common thread for both artists is how collective human stories are interwoven in our globalised society.
Downstairs, Yin’s portable cities greet us at the door, where little models of cities like London, Seoul, and Dunhuang emerge from suitcases on a baggage reclaim while a giant aircraft flies over the visitor. Off to the side, there are even luggage trolleys. Each city is woven from the clothes of its inhabitants, emphasising the migratory sense of home of our changing lives.
At the heart of her exhibition is a new commission, A Heart to Heart (2026), an immersive textile installation shaped like a human heart. Visitors are invited to step inside the space, a site of collective memory via the used clothing collected for its construction.
Upstairs, Shiota’s Threads of Life (2026) engulfs the visitor in a delicate web of red. Keys dangle at every turn and the space becomes a cage built from interconnected experiences. Similarly, During Sleep (2026) is a performance piece where performers lie in beds entrapped in black thread; it’s deeply unsettling and frankly quite creepy to walk through, as if having entered a spider’s web.
Letters of Thanks (2026) is more hopeful, featuring uplifting letters of gratitude crowd-sourced from the general public attached to red thread dangling from the ceiling. It feels like walking through a bamboo forest filled with love.
These are two very contemplative exhibitions that deserve a slow visit if possible. They remind us that our lives are bigger than just us, that our actions have impacts beyond our control, and that our humanity connects us no matter how the world changes. It’s a nice reminder to have.
Yin Xiuzhen: Heart to Heart / Chiharu Shiota: Threads of Life (17 February – 3 May 2026) is at the hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, London, https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/
Nigel Ip 
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