In a landmark collaboration between two leading U.S. modern and contemporary art museums, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden will jointly be acquiring an important immersive artwork by Yayoi Kusama.
Among Kusama’s most ambitious immersive works, Infinity Mirrored Room—My Heart Is Dancing into the Universe represents a dynamic continuation of her artistic investigation of space and time through a series of more than twenty dazzling Infinity Mirror Rooms that create distinctive illusions of a limitless expanse. The jointly acquired mirror room installation is lined on all six sides with reflective surfaces and filled with colorfully lit paper lanterns covered by the artist’s signature polka dots. Visitors are invited to pass through the darkened Room as the lanterns gradually change color and watch as their own reflections are absorbed into seemingly endless kaleidoscopic patterns.
Albright-Knox Chief Curator Cathleen Chaffee states, “Yayoi Kusama has always been a trailblazer and a visionary, and we are honored to welcome Infinity Mirrored Room—My Heart Is Dancing into the Universe into the Albright-Knox collection, where it can be contextualized alongside Pop, Minimalist, and installation artworks by many artists who have been her peers, as well as works by contemporary artists for whom she has been a true inspiration. This particular Room is transformational. It is emblematic of Kusama’s kinetic use of color as well as her lifelong disruption of art viewership, as she asks us to see ourselves seeing.”
Visitors experiencing Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room—My Heart Is Dancing into the Universe, 2018, at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Photo by Maitalong Du. © YAYOI KUSAMA. Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts and Victoria Miro
Visitors experiencing Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room—My Heart Is Dancing into the Universe, 2018, at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Photo by Maitalong Du. © YAYOI KUSAMA. Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts and Victoria Miro
Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room—My Heart Is Dancing into the Universe, 2018, at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Photo by Maitalong Du. © YAYOI KUSAMA. Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts and Victoria Miro.
Infinity Mirrored Room—My Heart Is Dancing into the Universe becomes the first major work by Kusama in the Albright-Knox’s permanent collection, continuing the Museum’s acquisition of immersive works by global artists. Albright-Knox Peggy Pierce Elfvin Director Janne Sirén says, “We are delighted to partner with the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in acquiring this extraordinary work by Yayoi Kusama. We plan to debut this landmark installation in Western New York soon after our museum reopens following the completion of our campus development and expansion project. Collaborations such as this one are vital to the fulfillment of our mission to make art accessible to diverse audiences. My team and I are deeply grateful to the Hirshhorn Museum for this partnership.”
Infinity Mirrored Room—My Heart Is Dancing into the Universe, 2018, will receive its East Coast debut when One with Eternity: Yayoi Kusama in the Hirshhorn Collection opens at the Hirshhorn this spring (dates to be announced). “Our forthcoming exhibition places this recent work in the context of [Kusama's] early painting, sculptures, and groundbreaking immersive work. We are grateful to partner with the Albright-Knox to bring this work to view on the National Mall as we celebrate our reopening,” says Hirshhorn Director Melissa Chiu. For example of this early work, see Kusama's The Ground, 1952.
The artwork will go on display in the Buffalo AKG Art Museum in the years following the completion of the campus, but in the meantime you might whet your appetite with an at-home art activity inspired by Kusama's extraordinary work.
