Concordia students and alumni help bring a major exhibition to life at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

Students and recent graduates from Concordia’s Faculty of Fine Arts gained hands-on experience by lending a hand with the installation of a major exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA), Chiharu Shiota: The Soul Trembles, featuring work by the internationally acclaimed Japanese artist.

Spanning more than 30 years of Shiota’s career, the exhibition brings together monumental installations, sculptures, drawings, photographs and videos exploring memory, human connection, existence and impermanence.

Among those who contributed to the installation of Shiota’s work is a group of approximately 12 Concordia students and recent graduates, who were selected for paid positions to aid with the setup of the exhibition.     

For these emerging artists, the opportunity offered a rare chance to step inside the production of a major international museum exhibition by working alongside members of Shiota’s studio and the MMFA’s professional teams to provide support with designated installation tasks.   

Shiota is known for her immersive installations made from red, black or white thread. Her monumental works were constructed directly within the spaces where they are exhibited, with thousands of strands woven and intertwined by hand.

Chiharu Shiota:The Soul Trembles premiered at Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum in 2019 and has since travelled to nine other venues internationally. The exhibition is organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo. It features eight large-scale installations, including two that occupy entire galleries, alongside works in a range of media.

Clara Congdon, a third-year MFA student in Fibres and Material Practice, has been assisting with Uncertain Journey (2016/2019), an installation featuring a series of boats connected to the sky by clouds of red wool. Working alongside three other students, she helped weave a dense network of red yarn within the metal frame of each boat. She also assisted with Reflection of Space and Time (2018) toward the end of the installation period.

“It has been especially meaningful to experience Shiota’s process of drawing with string in three dimensions and see the work come to life, line by line,” Congdon says. Just as meaningful, she adds, has been the human side of the experience. “It also meant a lot to be so warmly welcomed into the team by Shiota’s studio members and the Museum staff.”

From the classroom to the Museum

For Geneviève Bouthot, BFA 26 (Ceramics), the opportunity arrived just as she was completing her final course at the university.

“I was very curious to see how an international artist who produces monumental works manages to install her work in exhibition spaces,” she says.

Bouthot’s role involved supporting the weaving and braiding thread into a metal structure until it was completely filled, then connecting the red threads to nets covering the gallery’s ceilings. She says the repetitive nature of the work has resonated with her.

“The task was meditative and drew on skills acquired through my past experiences and studies,” she says. “It was moving to see this immense work taking shape while observing the artist’s vision and uniting her universe with mine.”

The experience has also provided Bouthot with a behind-the-scenes look at the professional art world. She says teaming up and shadowing the exhibition’s technical team has strengthened her confidence in communicating and collaborating, while conversations with the exhibition’s curators have offered insight into the workings of the museum sector.

“For students, there are few opportunities to work alongside professionals during our studies,” she says. “This opportunity allowed us to step into the museum world, which can seem intimidating, and to demystify how it works from the inside.”

A unique learning opportunity     

“The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is delighted to have welcomed students from Concordia University’s Faculty of Fine Arts to participate in the installation of Chiharu Shiota: The Soul Trembles.” explains Stéphane Aquin, The Rossy Foundation Director at the MMFA.

“By assisting Chiharu Shiota’s team with the realization of this major exhibition, this next generation of artists provided invaluable support while gaining an extraordinary hands-on creative experience. Their contribution underscores the deep-rooted relationships we nurture with Montreal’s academic community and the hope we have in the future of art in our city.”

Yet for Congdon and Bouthot, the experience comes down to something much closer to the material itself: a strand of wool, a length of yarn, a metal frame — and the experience of watching an artwork emerge, one line at a time.

Chiharu Shiota: The Soul Trembles runs from Sept. 26, 2026, to Feb. 14, 2027, at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The event marks the first North American presentation of the touring exhibition and the artist’s largest solo exhibition to date.

Learn more about the Department of Studio Arts at Concordia.