
Yayoi Kusama’s famous immersive mirror rooms are drawing crowds at SFMOMA in one of the museum’s most highly-anticipated exhibitions. Yayoi Kusama: Infinite Love opened on Oct. 14, 2023, and was initially supposed to run until September 7; however, SFMOMA announced the full presentation will close earlier than initially planned, on May 28, 2024. Lucky for us, one of the iconic Infinity Mirror Rooms, Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love will reopen on June 22, 2024. Plus, the mirror room will have no surcharge, unlike the full exhibition that is on display now. The mirrored room will also be included in free admission days and will remain on display until January 2025.
The SFMOMA exhibition is the celebrated Japanese artist’s West Coast premiere of her latest immersive installation. This is Kusama’s first solo museum presentation in Northern California — and getting tickets has proven difficult.
General admission tickets quickly sold out during past months, but you can get tickets during the next release as long as you keep a close eye on the exhibition page or sign up for ticket alerts.
An alternative option is to get to the museum early to get first-come, first-serve, same-day tickets. There’s a limited number available on site, so you can try showing up right at opening: that is, at 10am Friday-Wednesday or 12pm on Thursdays.
Tickets to the Kusama exhibition have a $10 surcharge on top of the museum’s general admission, which costs $30 for adults, $25 for seniors, and $23 for young adults 19-24 years old (children 18 and younger can go for free).
In some ways getting tickets is only half the battle: each group is granted 2 minutes inside of each immersive room, so get ready for a rapid-fire photo sesh.
SFMOMA’s installation will include Kusama’s latest rendition of her famous Infinity Mirror Room. The room invites visitors to step into a psychedelic, dreamlike space reflecting a collection of colorful polka dots and spheres suspended around one’s own repeated reflection. It’s an exciting, playful installation in a seemingly endless universe where Kusama encourages visitors to “Forget yourself. Become one with eternity. Become part of your environment.”
Infinite Love will also feature Kusama’s work Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I would Offer My Love which debuted at New York’s David Zwirner Gallery this year. The sculptural work is a large cube whose exterior reflects the gallery’s white surroundings, appearing to blend into the environment — but once you step inside to the mirrored space, the external light is filtered through colored holes, creating a dynamic, shifting environment among oversize transparent acrylic dots.
Just recently the museum revealed two additional Kusama pieces that will be on display at the exhibition — and yes, one is another infinity mirror room. LOVE IS CALLING is one of Kusama’s largest and most immersive works to date, in which visitors will enter a darkened room filled with inflatable luminous forms that gradually shift colors to an audio recording of Kusama reciting a love poem in Japanese.
The other is Aspiring to Pumpkin’s Love, the Love in My Heart, an undulating 18-foot-long pumpkin sculpture which will be viewable in general museum admission. Kusama often features pumpkins in her art as an ode to the “joy of living.”
You may be familiar with Yayoi Kusama for her massive art installations in New York City which took the internet by storm at the beginning of 2023. Kusama’s signature polka dots reached twelve stories high over Fifth Ave for her collaboration with Louis Vuitton, which also featured an insanely lifelike animatronic version of the artist painting on the window.
At 94 years old, Kusama continues to innovate across the realms of Pop Art, Minimalism, and pop culture as one of the most celebrated and illustrious artists working today. Her first mirrored environmental work debuted in 1965, eventually evolving into the famous darkened Infinity Mirror Room in 2000. Kusama has constructed over 20 such installations since then to widespread acclaim and audience delight.
Look for Yayoi Kusama: Infinite Love at SFMOMA in San Francisco from Oct. 14, 2023-May 28, 204.
By Jamie Ferrell and Dana Flynn
Featured image: Yayoi Kusama, Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love, 2023, installed in the exhibition Yayoi Kusama: I Spend Each Day Embracing Flowers, David Zwirner, New York, May 11—July 21, 2023 © YAYOI KUSAMA. Courtesy the artist, Ota Fine Arts, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner. Image via SFMOMA.