Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Which Infinity Room tops them all?

Now you may be asking yourself..."What is an Infinity Mirror Room?"..."Why are the exhibitions selling out all across the world?"..."Who created these extraordinary masterpieces?!"

Please. Do not panic. I have all the answers and more. I am after all an Infinity Mirror Room Fanatic (disclaimer: this may be the largest understatement of the year)...

Who: Yayoi Kusama

Kusama is a Japanese contemporary artist best known for her polka dot displays, large scale sculptures, and of course, Infinity Mirror Rooms.

Since an early age Kusama has struggled with mental health in the form of severe anxiety and hallucinations. As a mechanism to cope, she will often paint what she sees, using creative expression as a form of release or therapy. Consequently, the endless repetition of forms - the polka dot in particular - is a recurring motif identifiable in many Kusama works.

“My art originates from hallucinations only I can see. I translate the hallucinations and obsessional images that plague me into sculptures and paintings."

Kusama, a true avant-garde, has been at the forefront of many artistic movements (including Pop Art, and Feminist art), inspiring artists such as Damien Hirst, Yoko Ono, and Andy Warhol.

What: Infinity Mirror Room

Step into a Kusama Infinity Mirror Room - no larger than a small bedroom - and close the door behind you. What was once an area measuring only a few square metres is suddenly transformed into a vast, almost infinite space. Obsessive brightly coloured images, originating from Kusama's childhood, are projected in every direction. The surfaces from wall to ceiling, covered in mirrors.

I was first acquainted with a Kusama in 2012, during my International Exchange term in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Walking into Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen's purchased work, Infinity Mirror Room—Phalli’s Field (1965), was like walking into a dream. You are no longer in an art gallery. You have somehow instead stumbled into an Alice in Wonderland dreamland, populated by absurd and peculiar forms.

Stuffed textile objects, phallic in shape, white in colour, and covered with flame red polka dots differing in size and appearance, turn from hundreds into thousands. Your own single reflection is cast along the ceiling and walls, bringing you, and identical images of you, into an alternate universe. What is seemingly a claustrophobic room, is transformed into a spacious, looping world.

Now you may be saying to yourself..."Where can I see her works?!"...."I MUST ABSOLUTELY experience a mirror room in 2018!!!!"

Well my friend, you are in luck because I have the inside scoop of where you can check out some of my favourite Yayoi Kusama works! (You might need to travel a bit though...)

Permanent Installations: (I have personally been to the 3 noted below, and they are an absolute MUST SEE!)

Infinity Mirror Room - Phalli’s Field (1965), Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam Netherlands
Gleaming Lights of the Souls (2008), Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark
The Passing Winter (2005), Tate Modern (Blavatnik Building), London, UK