Yayoi Kusama’s Art: Exhibitions I’ve Seen & Where to Catch Her Next
Disclaimer: I visited the Moderna Museet in Stockholm as a guest/participant of the TBEX Conference & Visit Stockholm. Opinions are all mine, of course – I always tell it like it is.
How did I go from Kusama being an artist I had never heard of and just happened to stumble upon to waiting almost 3 hours to see an exhibit of hers last month?
Like all great travel experiences, walking through a Kusama exhibition makes me feel like a tiny speck in a giant universe and compels me to look out on the world with a new sense of wonder.
Usually those sensations for me are reserved for being out in nature or standing in the shadow of a great architectural marvel – like hiking through tea plantations in Sri Lanka or ascending the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. In the case of Kusama, she masterfully achieves this effect within the confines of museum walls.
And even though my almost 3-hour wait was just to get tickets, and doesn’t include the time waiting at each of the individual infinity mirror rooms, I thought it was definitely worth it for the experience!
About Kusama
I think the most surprising thing for me about Kusama is her age. She was born in the 1920s, and is pushing 90 years old today (while still creating art)!
Like many artists, she had a rough childhood. Then in her teenage years, she began having hallucinations of dots, which became a fixation throughout her career. According to Kusama, it is the dots that transport you to infinity.
As the friend I made while waiting in line at the recent Washington, DC exhibit observed, “her art feels so modern, I thought everything here was new.”
And that is another thing about Kusama, her edginess is timeless. Her art felt shockingly modern and avant garde back in the 1950s and 60s, and that same art feels equally innovative today.
Kusama: In Infinity @ the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden
Flashback to less than a year ago at the TBEX travel blogging conference in Stockholm, Sweden. I made plans to attend fairly last-minute, so I ended up on a tour that was relatively random for me during the afternoon leading up to the start of the conference: Art & Architecture.
The itinerary was already planned for us, and while I glanced briefly at the list of museums we’d be visiting, I didn’t do any research into what exactly we might be seeing when we arrived.
Our first stop was the Moderna Museet, Stockholm’s modern art museum. We saw a few exhibits there with a guide, but it was the Kusama exhibition that was the most memorable by far.
I’m not a huge art buff, and had never heard of Kusama. And honestly, I probably wouldn’t have sought out the modern art museum there on my own, but it just happened to be included on my tour.
I got a sense of how prominent an artist she is when the museum entrance was plastered with dots and what I now know to be one of her signature pumpkins covered in dots:
Although I didn’t know to call it this at the time, there was also one “infinity mirror room.” This one featured spotted lanterns covered in black dots with lights inside that kept shifting color. Infinity rooms are basically enclosed boxes with every surface a mirror, so the items in the room (and your reflection!) are everywhere you look, multiplied many times:
Maybe it’s just the math teacher in me, but I like geometry and shapes, and the uniformity of the reflections in all directions appeals to me. Especially with the contrast of spherical globes covered in circles, and then inside a square space.
The Stockholm exhibit also had a lot of art displayed in open areas, including the other Kusama work there that struck me the most.
Instead of a surface with dots painted on, this exhibit consisted of highly polished and reflective silver spheres each about the size of a basketball. I definitely was under the impression that this was a new exhibit, although I later read that it had originally been created for the Venice Biennale in 1966!
Kusama is known for being particular about how her art is displayed and experienced, and this display was no exception. When a single ball rolled a bit out of place while I was there, someone from the museum came over wearing white gloves to replace it in its correct spot:
And of course, like many of Kusama works with interesting titles, this one is aptly named – Narcissus Garden. Although I didn’t know that when I captured this shot with my reflection, many times over:
Kusama: Infinity Mirrors @ the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC, USA
After my experience in the infinity mirror room in Stockholm, I had a sense of what to expect in DC. The pleasant surprise is that for the Infinity Mirrors exhibition, it really is a comprehensive retrospective of Kusama’s 65-year career.
Kusama at her core is known for her dots, and you’ll see them throughout the exhibit. They are not only in the rooms but also painted in different configurations on canvas, decorating 3-dimensional figures, and part of mini flashing displays you peer into to get the effect of the full-size infinity room.
The mini infinity mirror room that mesmerized me the most was called Love Forever, and had two square windows on different sides for two people to peer in simultaneously.
But of course, the focus was mostly on the infinity mirror rooms. And waiting to see them was the bulk of your time in the exhibit.
The 5 main infinity mirror rooms:
Phalli’s Field
I liked how bright this room was with the simple color scheme of white and red. It was easy to see all the reflections generated when the room was completely closed.
Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity
Entering this infinity room involved a bit of ducking as there are lanterns hanging down at different heights. But they really appear to take up the whole space, so it’s a bit other-worldly to see yourself among the lights.
All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins
At the Hirshhorn this was the only room where a staff member entered with you, and also where cameras were prohibited when I went, due to a previous incident (presumed to be caused by a selfie) in which one of the lit pumpkins was damaged.
This shot of me and a pumpkin painted yellow outside the museum gives an idea of what it was like in the infinity mirror room with the (smaller) lit pumpkins:
Love Transformed into Dots
This was the infinity mirror room that was most similar to the one I saw in Stockholm, except that this room was only with pink spheres with black dots, instead of the multi-color display I had seen previously. Still a lot of fun!
The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away
I perceived this room as two levels of colors standing inside, so it definitely felt as if you were gazing out toward a distant horizon.
Even with the fast-paced nature of the timing, it was really incredible when the staff closed the door behind you and you were completely enclosed by mirrors and light reflections. And it actually turned out to be a plus for many of the rooms to be only 1 person, as even with my new friend with me in line, I got to go in completely alone for several of the rooms.
I also loved the concept of the Obliteration Room, which was the final part of the exhibit before exiting. It was very cool and interactive, and I had actually seen friends’ pictures already before I went.
But what I didn’t realize from the photos was that it wasn’t paint splotches artistically thrown on the walls, but stickers! The room actually started off completely white, including the furniture, and then a staff member handed each person a sheet of 6 different-colored stickers as they left the exhibition:
By the time I got there several months in, it looked like this:
As you can see, it was pretty crowded, but with a little patience and smart camera angling, it wasn’t too hard to get some good shots all on your own:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTpsmzHA1_s/
It was such a fun place for a final frolic, and the best part is that after all the queuing, there is no time limit for the Obliteration Room.
Where You Can See Kusama’s Artwork Next
Even if you missed seeing the Kusama exhibitions in Stockholm and Washington, DC, lucky for you the DC exhibition is now embarking on a North American tour through late 2018. Never traveled for art before? Here’s your chance!
The Kusama Infinity Mirrors exhibition, will be appearing:
June 30, 2017 – September 10, 2017
Seattle Art Museum
Seattle, WA, USA
*As of June 1st, tickets are completely sold out, but limited same-day tickets will be available on-site on a first-come, first-served basis
October 21, 2017-January 10, 2018
The Broad
Los Angeles, CA, USA
*Although ticketing details are not yet released for October, between now and September 30th there is already a Kusama “infinity room” on display at The Broad if you’re able to visit.
March 3, 2018 – May 27 2018
Art Gallery of Ontario
Toronto, Canada
*Ticketing details to be announced.
July 7, 2018 – September 30, 2018
Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, OH, USA
*Ticketing details to be announced.
November 18, 2018 – February 17, 2019
The High
Atlanta, GA, USA
*Ticketing details to be announced.
Practical Tips for Visiting
The laid back Kusama exhibit I visited in Stockholm was a bit different from the current Hirshhorn-organized exhibition Infinity Mirrors that is heading around North America over the next eighteen months. Since the exhibit has multiple infinity mirror rooms that only allow a few people in at a time, tickets will likely be extremely limited at all of the museums mentioned above.
First, I would say that while the Seattle exhibition (which starts at the end of this month) is already sold out for advance tickets, exact policies have not been announced for the other 3 cities. If you’re planning to catch Kusama in Los Angeles, Toronto, or Cleveland, definitely get on the respective museum’s mailing list or follow them on social media to be the first to learn about getting tickets.
Even if you try your best to score advance tickets, realize that you may not succeed. When Infinity Mirrors was in DC, I tried multiple times for the advance timed tickets that were released weekly, but was never successful at getting them. Which is not surprising when the Hirshhorn revealed that during one March week, nearly 60,000 people were vying for fewer than 10,000 advance passes!
And even during the week in DC, there were looooong lines to get in, so I definitely debated whether I thought I should go.
For the first several months, getting there 1 hour or so before museum opening time was sufficient to get a timed ticket for later in the day. As the exhibition closing date approached, lines got significantly longer, earlier in the morning.
I went on a Wednesday during last 2 weeks of exhibit. I arrived around 8:30am, with the museum opening at 10:00am. And I was far enough back in the line – several hundred people – that it then took another 1 hour to receive the timed tickets.
I ended up with a 1:00pm ticket, which was the earliest time slot available when I got to the front of the queue. And there were plenty of people who lined up by the 10:00am opening, but were so far back in the line that they got turned away when timed tickets ran out.
So yes, go for same-day tickets, but plan ahead!
TIP! Bring a book. Between my earplugs and Kindle, I had a blissful 90 minutes of reading as I waited outside.
TIP! Prepare to wait, even if you’ve been lucky enough to get advance tickets. Even beyond the waiting to obtain a timed ticket, there is a separate queue for all of the infinity mirror rooms. One of the individual lines I waited on took 45 minutes! Overall, I spent around 2 hours at the exhibit, and about 1.5 hours of that time was waiting in line. Time-wise there is definitely a lot more waiting than reward, although it gives you more time to ponder and discuss the art.
TIP! Bring a friend or be ready to make one. You’ll probably want someone else there to take pictures of you and especially to keep you entertained waiting in line. It was also helpful that I made a friend pretty quickly because then we took turns holding a spot in line while the other one explored the rest of the exhibits. Although for many the infinity mirror rooms are the main attraction, there is a fair bit of Kusama’s art besides the infinity rooms on display.
TIP! Dress the part! Some people wore solid colors like me, while others arrived decked out in polka dotted dresses or outrageous outfits. If you go, you’re probably only going to go once, so dress for the pictures you want. Also consider that you’ll be spending a lot of time on your feet.
TIP! Take a nice camera. There are a lot of flashing lights and illuminated sections, so if you have a nice camera, you’ll want to have it with you to capture everything.
TIP! Jump around between the infinity rooms if you can. Fortunately in DC you didn’t need to visit the infinity mirror rooms in order, so I skipped ahead to some shorter lines and then backtracked as the other lines eased. For whatever reason with the exhibit’s layout, one line was always long – that was the one where I waited 45 minutes.
TIP! Be ready when it’s your turn to enter the infinity room. Even if you’ve been waiting a while, as you approach the front of the line, pay attention. At least in DC, you could enter each infinity mirror room for only 20-30 seconds each, so people move through quickly. All of the Hirshhorn staff had timers to track this, and it goes by quicker than you’d think.
Half a minute is not a lot of time to reflect, stare in wonder, gaze into infinity, wonder about the universe, and also capture the perfect selfie inside. But it’s worth the experience of trying.
Have you experienced Kusama’s art before? Would you ever plan a trip around an art exhibition? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the ‘Comments.’
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