Inside the Hirshhorn’s Yayoi Kusama ‘Infinity Mirrors’ exhibition

Mirrors, colors, and infinite dots all abound in the Hirshhorn Museum’s brand new exhibition, set to open on February 23. Until May 14, Yayoi Kusama’s “Infinity Mirrors” will be open to the public with over 60 paintings and sculptures from the artist's more than five decades of work displayed.

In an interview with Curbed DC, Hirshhorn Museum Curator Mika Yoshitake said that the six “Infinity Rooms,” which span from 1965 through the present, are able to allow the visitors to give a sense of the cosmos. In her works, Kusama utilizes a variety of mediums, from lights to cotton to mirrors.

Below, see what to expect at the exhibition.

Not only does the exhibit tantalize with six Instagram-worthy “mirror rooms,” it also offers an opportunity for the public to interact with the art. In one all-white room, called “The Obliteration Room,” the public is able to take round, colorful stickers and place them anywhere, whether on a fake laptop, couch, or mugs.

The newest Infinity Room that Kusama has created is “Infinity Mirrored Room—All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins.” The room is filled with glowing pumpkins and influenced by Kusama’s family, which cultivated and sold plant seeds for a living. The pumpkin motif has repeated in Kusama’s works since the late 1940s.

In 2009, Kusama created the room, “Infinity Mirrored Room— Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity” with golden lanterns flickering and shining in a seemingly endless void. This room is meant to recall a Japanese tradition, called toro nagashi, which is a ceremony where paper lanterns float down a river to guide ancestral spirits to their resting places.

This immersive environment is meant to appear like stars in the galaxy with hundreds of LED lights flickering in a rhythmic pattern. Kusama created the room, “Infinity Mirrored Room–The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away,” in 2013 in order for visitors to contemplate their existence and reflect the passage of time.

This room, “Infinity Mirrored Room–Love Forever,” doesn’t allow visitors to walk into the space, but merely peek inside from a square hole. The hexagonal room is mirrored on all sides and with two peep holes.

Giant vinyl balloons decorate one of the six spaces in the exhibition. This exhibit, called “Dots Obsession—Love Transformed into Dots,” displays not only massive inflatable balloons, but also a video projection of Kusama singing and a peep-in dome, seen above. This installation was created in 2007 and installed in 2017.

Described as “perhaps the most important breakthrough for Kusama,” Kusama created this Infinity Room in 1965. The room is known as “Infinity Mirror Room–Phalli's Field,” and displays thousands of sewed, stuffed fabric tubers in a mirrored room.

If interested in visiting the Hirshhorn Museum for this exhibition, free timed passes will be released every Monday at noon. Same-day visits are also possible, though limited.

• Yayoi Kusama 'Infinity Mirrors' Exhibit to Land at the Hirshhorn [Curbed DC]