Giant pumpkins, floating polka dotted orbs and tentacles are growing inside the Hirshhorn Collection as it debuts the latest exhibit by world renowned artist Yayoi Kusama.
WASHINGTON — Giant pumpkins, floating polka dotted orbs and tentacles are growing inside the Hirshhorn Collection as it debuts the latest exhibit by world renowned artist Yayoi Kusama.
Photos and videos taken by visitors as they experience the exhibit’s signature mirrored boxes are already popping up on social media. And museum curators don’t expect that to stop anytime soon.
Just like the Renwick Museum, which experienced a documented bump in visitors due to photos of its “Wonder” installations going viral, so too is the likely fate of “Infinity Mirrors.”
Of the top five things visitors must see:
1. “All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins” infinity mirror room, the artist’s latest installation created in 2016.
2. “Dots Obession–Love Transformed into Dots,” a domed mirror room surrounded by inflatables suspended from the ceiling
3. Infinity Mirror Room–Love Forever” is actually two rooms built nearly thirty years apart where viewers can peer in to see colored flashing lights the reflect endlessly from ceiling to floor
4. “The Obliteration Room,” created in 2002 is an entirely white room mimicking an apartment space where visitors are asked to place colored dots wherever they like to eventually covering the space with color.
5. “Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity,” created in 2009 is a mirrored room where suspended lanterns are reflected thousands of times from floor to ceiling to give the visitor the sensation of the infinite.
Yayoi Kusama’s mirrored room “Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity” was created in 2009.
(Courtesy of the artist)
Courtesy of the artist
Inside the Infinity Mirrored Room, Love Forever. There are two installations in this set, one created in 1965 and the other in 1994.
(WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
WTOP/Megan Cloherty
One of the Mirrored Rooms in the installation is a field of hand-painted glowing pumpkins. Each visitor is allowed inside for 30 seconds to experience the infinity effect.
(WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
WTOP/Megan Cloherty
The LED lights inside one of the Love Forever installations change color constantly. Visitors can peer into the octagonal box to feel a part of the experience.
(WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
WTOP/Megan Cloherty
Because so much of the exhibit incorporates polka dots, the front glass of the museum is covered in red dots.
(WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
WTOP/Megan Cloherty
Visitors will find another mirrored room inside of a giant polka dotted orb, which features more polka dotted orbs.
(WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
WTOP/Megan Cloherty
Visitors enter one of the mirrored rooms through a polka dotted orbs. Inside visitors will find a series of spotted pink orbs.
(WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
WTOP/Megan Cloherty
The Obliteration Room is the final installation. Visitors can use the sheet of stickers they were given upon entry to help ‘color in’ the all-white space.
(WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
WTOP/Megan Cloherty
The Hirshhorn Collection’s front door is reflected in the afternoon sun.
(WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
WTOP/Megan Cloherty
One of the first installations visitors see is the artist’s “Violet Obsession.”
(WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
WTOP/Megan Cloherty
A closer look at “Violet Obsession” reveals the intricate tentacle design of the row boat.
(WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
WTOP/Megan Cloherty
This installation is one of associate curator Mika Yoshitake’s favorites. It is set between two mirrored rooms in the exhibit.
(WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
WTOP/Megan Cloherty
There are two windows into the octagonal Love Forever mirrored room so visitors can interact with each other inside.
(WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
WTOP/Megan Cloherty
One of the first installations to greet visitors resembles arm chairs but shares the same tentacle-like expressions as the artist’s “Violet Obsession.”
(WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
WTOP/Megan Cloherty
Associate curator of the exhibit, Mika Yoshitake is thrilled at the early reaction to the very visual presentation.
(WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
The exhibit features a series of mirrored rooms, one which was designed in 1965 by the artist who is now 87-years-old.
“One which has lanterns that have LED lights that flicker like candles. … And there’s another, it’s got pumpkins all along the floor so it looks like a meadow,” said associate curator Mika Yoshitake.
To keep the groups small, Allison Peck with the Hirshhorn said for the first time, the museum will be releasing free, timed tickets. Visitors can reserve up to four on this website for the following week each Monday at noon.
“So it won’t be a mob scene on the weekends. And on a Tuesday, it won’t be empty. We’re able to spread the crowd out so everyone has the best possible experience,” Peck said.