Central London’s hottest new art exhibition has landed as of the penultimate Friday of February. You can find needle scupltures and a five-minute conceptual art film starring dancers enroped in red rope (as a moving violin concerto plays on) at the art’otel London Hoxton, in Old Street.

This is the latest work from American-Japanese artist Makiko Harris, who came to the idea in London. Harris told MGC that she created silver statues while the project was in collaboration with Director Peter Gray, and costume designer Deborah Milner (noted for her couture work for Alexander McQueen). The violin score playing in the background of the art film is Harris’ own, in collaboration with composer and executive producer Carlos Basilisco, Harris’ friend.

The project came about following the passing of Harris’ grandmother, which led Harris to inherit her grandmother’s sewing kit. Moved by the intimacy of the tools, and their link to the feminist legacy of textile arts, Harris began making needles on a larger than life scale – repurposing a traditionally domestic tool into a powerful feminist symbol.

The Japanese legend of the red thread of fate, an ancient myth positing that an invisible red string binds two people destined to meet, is central to Needle Dance. Although the string might stretch or tangle, it’s ultimately unbreakable, representing a force beyond human control. In Harris’ interpretation, the notion of destiny rubs against the contemporary feminist imperative for self-determination: whether women should accept a path laid out by tradition and ancestry, or if they can pull agency and independence from the weight of heritage.

The brief film was videod entirely underwater, magnifying the poetic resonance of the two dancers’ movements. The water acts as both resistance and liberation – you have to move against it, yet there’s a freeing feeling that comes with being in the water, just as the dancers appear weightless, yet they must continually move towards their pre-destined fate.

Harris said: “I wanted to honour my lineage and ancestors while still forging my own path. Growing up, I watched my grandmother – a woman with almost no choices – express her agency through sewing. Inheriting her needles made me realise how creative expression can thrive even when opportunities are limite. To me, these needles became symbols of womanhood and creative power.

“Making them the size of weapons captures the tension between fate and autonomy – it’s always a struggle to honour the people you love while defining your own path. But the needle can also be a tool for repair and forgiveness. Echoing Louise Bourgeois’s idea that it’s meant to mend rather than harm. For me, that kind of hope is at the heart of this film.”

Needle Dance is showing from 17 February to 2 March at art’otel London Hoxton.