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Step Inside Yayoi Kusama’s Dazzling “Infinity Rooms”

The artist’s New York exhibition, “I Who Have Arrived In Heaven,” invites viewers to get lost in new mirror-lined installations

December 1, 2013

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama has captivated the minds of art lovers with her famous "infinity rooms," two of which are currently on display at New York's David Zwirner gallery through December 21, 2013. The first room, titled Love is Calling, features glowing tentacle-like structures that burst from the mirrored room's floor and ceiling and change colors as a recording of Kusama recites Japanese poems. Courtesy of David Zwirner and Yayoi Kusama Studio Inc.

Kusama has described her infinity rooms as tools for tearing down the self. "By obliterating one's individual self, one returns to the infinite universe." Courtesy of David Zwirner and Yayoi Kusama Studio Inc.

Viewers are invited to explore the mirrored 20 by 28 foot space. Courtesy of David Zwirner and Yayoi Kusama Studio Inc.

This exhibit marks the installation's U.S. debut. The work was shown earlier this year in Tokyo as part of a show celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Mori Art Museum. Courtesy of David Zwirner and Yayoi Kusama Studio Inc.

The second mirrored infinity room envelops viewers in a seemingly endless world of multicolored lights handing from LEDs. The lights flicker on and off, creating a sense of time both suspended and endless. Some say the room represents Kusama's meditation on life and death in the closing years of the 84-year-old artist. Courtesy of David Zwirner and Yayoi Kusama Studio Inc.

Speaking through a translator at the press preview, Kusama said, "Now as I approach death, I'm still full of big hope that we all have the power to spread love and peace, and I can do so with my work." Courtesy of David Zwirner and Yayoi Kusama Studio Inc.

Lighted orbs, hanging at various heights, turn on and off in repetitive patterns. Courtesy of David Zwirner and Yayoi Kusama Studio Inc.

Kusama traveled from the psychiatric hospital in Japan, where she chooses to live, to New York for the opening of the exhibit. This piece, entitled "Manhattan Suicide Addict," is a large-scale projection shown on a twelve-foot screen. Onscreen, Kusama sings a song about her lifelong experience with mental illness while an animated slideshow of her work plays behind her. Courtesy of David Zwirner and Yayoi Kusama Studio Inc.

The video projection is flanked by two 12-foot tall mirrors, infinitely reflecting the artist's image. Courtesy of David Zwirner and Yayoi Kusama Studio Inc.

The inflatable tentacles, covered in the artist's signature polka dots, slowly change color. Courtesy of David Zwirner and Yayoi Kusama Studio Inc.