Anaïs Lellouche interviews Chiharu Shiota for her monumental exhibition 'The Soul Trembles' at the Grand Palais, Paris in Design Boom, December 2024.

Anais Lellouche: Your work evokes a constellation of memories and dreams, where viewers can engage with symbolic objects like boats, suitcases, windows, and beds, yet always from a distance—almost as if observing the lives of others as an immaterial presence. How do you create intimacy in your visceral works while preserving a sense of mystery and universality?

Chiharu Shiota: When I go to the flea market in Berlin, I see all these objects, and all these things were so important to the people all their whole life. It is like a treasure, their family photo album, or passport but now after their death these objects just become trash, there is no meaning, without the person. This person does not exist anymore but I can see their existence through this object. I feel like I know them even though I have never met them.

The Mordant Collection is one of the pre-eminent collections in Australia and Europe, featuring some 600 works by leading international artists, edited by Anais Lellouche. This reference publication highlights 130 artists, and features and interview with Simon and Catriona Mordant by Anais Lellouche. Thank you to the talented team, including Sarah Boris for Artistic Direction, Katya Conrad, content writer, and Arielle Lande, publication coordinator. Please contact us to request a copy.

Anaïs Lellouche is the curator and co-founder of the INSPIRE art award. Hosted by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and connected to the PRIO Centre on culture and violent conflict (CCC), the award aims to support artists whose creative practice responds to experiences of war, political violence, and violent conflict. INSPIRE art award partners with Nitja Centre for Contemporary Art, Goethe Institut, The Peacebuilding and the Arts Program (Brandeis University), Residency Unlimited and Thanks for Nothing. Nitja, located near Oslo in Lillestrøm, will host the INSPIRE Art Award Ceremony and the Group Presentation in spring 2024. Residency Unlimited will host the winner artist and is waving their program fee.

"2021 brought us many exciting endeavours... Collaborating with collectors to acquire works by leading contemporary artists has meant researching, sourcing and enriching the lives of our clients who were stuck at home but at least in the company of great artists."

"Trading on exclusivity is no longer a viable option, not with closures and cancellations causing the art sector to slump and rethink its approach. New audiences, new tactics and new approaches are needed to revive the industry, and a fresh cohort of businesses are ready to rise to the challenge, armed with just that."

"London is a Garden of Eden for art lovers, offering a remarkable range of accessible galleries representing a diverse array of artists. London Gallery Weekend, a new initiative celebrating art galleries in the city, has over 130 leading contemporary art galleries taking part in the inaugural edition this year. We invited our guide, Anaïs Lellouche, to share her selection of the best spaces and food across the city for a perfect gallery day. Anaïs is a curator and art consultant, and well-versed in the London gallery scene."

Experience the virtual tour of Chiharu Shiota's exhibition, I Hope, featured in Design Boom. Hosted by the Guest Club.

"Anaïs is a curator and art consultant based in London. She has curated exhibitions and led major commissions in Dubai, Melbourne, Paris and New York. She collaborates with collectors to build tailored, museum quality collections and is actively engaged with artists, developing opportunities for them through museum projects around the world. She has been very involved with public art and sculpture parks. Anaïs is on the board of La Pause (Marrakech) and INSPIRE, Peace Research Institute (Oslo). She holds an MA from Bard College, Centre for Curatorial Studies (NY) and regularly publishes and teaches masterclasses on contemporary art."

"If you don't live and breathe it, the art market can feel like an intimidating beast to approach...It's a wonder then, that more platforms like Melbourne-based Guest Club don't exist."

"I was very fortunate to have had a passion for art from a very young age and I started gaining experience in the field at the age of 16 years. I knew I would work in the arts but was not exactly certain in what capacity, whether as an artist, gallerist, in a museum, or auction house. So I tried them all! This is how I found my way; I kept moving ahead with experiences in the field until it felt right."

"Sculpture parks are the Garden of Eden for art lovers. International curator Anais Lellouche whets our appetite for future travel by exploring her top ten favourite art destinations and sculpture parks around the world.

Ranging from local gems, like the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in England, to art pilgrimage destinations, such as the Naoshima ‘art island,’ famous for its Tadao Ando architecture, this is the hit list you will not want to miss as you plan your next art-inspired getaway."

"An ephemeral, melancholic fantasy world that leaves a lasting impact: that's what White Night's organisers are hoping to create on the second annual all-night arts event on February 22, replete with a musical line-up including a homage to Prince's epic 1980s musical drama film Purple Rain."