Tate Modern presents a rare chance to step into two of Yayoi Kusama’s infinity mirror rooms, transporting you into Kusama’s unique vision of endless reflections.
Kusama was born in Japan in 1929 and although she went to the Kyoto School of Arts and Crafts in 1948, she became frustrated with Japanese styles of painting and moved to New York in the late 50s. Since then, she has created new forms of art altogether, often transforming rooms and spaces to make you rethink your understanding of your surroundings.
One of the key features of Kusama’s work is polka dots, and this is something you’ll notice in her first mirror room ‘Filled with the Brilliance of Life’. The floor, walls and ceiling are all mirrored and hanging from the ceiling are hundreds of small flashing LED lights, giving you a sense of endless space that makes you feel like you’re in a completely different world. In the second mirror room ‘Chandelier of Grief’, all sides of the room are also mirrored and the only source of light is a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, creating a disorientating but mesmerising effect. A small selection of photographs are also on display that give you the chance to see Kusama’s journey from the very beginning of her career.
"That out of this trauma she has made such consistently uplifting, touching art is a wonder."
"It is as if we we are in a clockwork universe of endlessly proliferating, rotating gears, a Keplerian machine of cycles and epicycles which has no end, all of which sounds a great deal more engaging than I actually found it."
"My cheapo garden fairy lights do that too, even when I don’t want them to."
"They highlight Kusama’s experience of hallucinations often terrifying incidents which have occurred since her early life and make her feel as if she is dissolving a “self obliteration”."