NGV Yayoi Kusama retrospective, Melbourne 2025

In January my sister gave me a wonderful birthday present of taking Sylvia and me to see the Yayoi Kusama retrospective at NGV International in St Kilda Road.   It is the biggest show of Kusama's work in the Southern Hemisphere.  Two hundred works of art include 10 of her iconic infinity rooms and more dots than you can poke a stick at.  They tell stories of courage, fun and warmth of the 95 year old artist's decades of creating amazing artworks.  She seems to ride the zeitgeist, being an irresistable selfie opportunity for instagrammers, and yet has such a fascinating history of being present in so many moments in time.

The exhibition runs until 21 April so I highly recommend it to locals and visitors to Melbourne, if you don't mind paying the entrance fee (and even if you wont pay, the free stuff is great in the Foyer Great Hall and Kusama for Kids).

Ascension of polka dots on the trees

My sister was not impressed by the entry fee for the exhibition ($38 for a child and $18 for an adult).  She rightly pointed out that public art should not be too expensive for part of the population.  So it was great to see that some parts of the exhibition could be seen without paying the fee.  Above is the spotty tree trunks in St Kilda Road outside the entrance to the NGV.  They can be enjoyed by anyone walking, cycling, driving by.  You don't even have to go into the gallery to see the signature spots!

Dancing Pumpkin, 2020

Kusama is famous for her dotty pumpkins so it is a coup for the NGV to have purchased this 5 metres tall dancing pumpkin installation that is currently in the forecourt of the gallery.  While young adults posed for selfies, younger kids played among the kinetic limbs.

Spots in the great hall

This was one of the few pieces of art I could not find a title for.  The giant yellow balls covered in dots look modern and playful against the serious colourfest of the Great Hall's stained glass ceiling.  The simplicity of the balls placed just so is genius.  I could just lie on the floor and look up at this sight for hours.  If only we had had the time and I wasn't whisked away quickly to the fee paying section of the exhibition.

Narcissus Garden 1966

Anyone familiar with the NGV will know the waterwall at the entrance where so many children (including me and my siblings) have placed theirs hands to watch the flowing water part around them and trickle over their fingers.  For the Kusama exhibition it is rendered bright pink with lots of giant dots.  Inside under its rosy glow is a recreation of the iconic Nacissus Garden from the Venice Biennale in 1966.  You don't have to pay to see this in the floyer.

Once inside the fee paying area, we encounter a smaller recreation of the Narcissist Garden.  The original in 1966 was an installation at the Venice Biennale that today we might call art bombing and back then was called unauthorised. She stood in the midst of the installation selling off the silver orbs cheaply as a comment on elitism and the commodification of art.  It was cut short by the Biennale authorities because it was not formally invited but it has been recreated around the world many times since.  There must be a lot of these silver orbs out there!  She looks so young and fresh faced almost 60 years ago and yet by then she was in her 30s with a lot of experience as an artist.

The section in the first part of the exhibition showed artwork from her early decades as a child in Japan and a young woman seeking like as an artist in the USA before she returned to Japan with poor mental health.  Since 1977 she has voluntarily lived in a mental health facility in Tokyo and takes a daily short walk to her studio.  It is a form of art therapy but also so much more.  The above photos are of her wild life in 1960s New York staging staging outlandish happenings in public places often involving naked people painted with polka dots.  She was a part of the 1960s counter culture that expressed love and sexuality in a wild and challenging way that was bound to shock.

Statue of Venus Obliterated by Infinity Nets 

Across the forecourt in the second section of the fee paying exhibition were the later infinity rooms and spectacle. Above is a statue of Venus de Milo covered in Kusama's signature dots.  It reminded me of Andy Warhol's pop art and then I read that Kusama had influence pop artist such as Walhol and Claes Oldenburg.  What an icon and an innovator!

The Spirits of the Pumpkins Descended into the Heavens 2015 

One of the first things we saw in the second section was a queue.  This must be the famous infinity mirror rooms.  We had to see it to get our money's worth and if we had to queue, we would see it.  After over 20 minutes of queuing we were questioning if it was worth it.  (We had breaks one or two at a time from the queue to run in the next room and look at other artworks.)  Yet our excitement rose as we finally were in the yellow room with black dots around this first mirror room.  It was actually a peep hole into a mirror room of an infinity of glowing yellow pumpkin lanterns covered in black dots.  It was amazing.  More amazing to be there peering in that any photos or videos can show.  We were told beforehand that there was a 30 second limit per person and still it was difficult to drag our eyes from the spectacle when our time was up.

Dots Obsession 1996/2024

While waiting to see that first infinity room I wandered into the infinity mirror room of red spheres covered in white dots.  So simple and yet so fun when seen with a new perspective.  

Kusama has a prodigious output.  As well as the infinity mirror installations, she has created painting, sculpture, poetry, videos, fashion, performance art and fiction.  Wikipedia describes her work as "based in conceptual art and shows some attributes of feminism, minimalism, surrealism, art brut, pop art, and abstract expressionism, and is infused with autobiographical, psychological, and sexual content."  Wow!  What an impressive artist!

As Jo Higgins writes for the ABC, Yayoi Kusama's NGV exhibition offers up more to ponder than just her Infinity Rooms.

Works from my Eternal Soul series 2009-2021

There paintings were displayed in a room so large that it was difficult to photograph the top ones.  Some had sculptures in front of it as you can see in the photo above the photo above.  My sister and Sylvia were keen to move on so there wasn't a lot of time to stop and read.  However when I saw the titles of a few of the pictures I took photos to enjoy the poetry of them later.  Here are a few samples:

• The Urge to Die Comes on a Daily Basis. Hoping That You Come Across My Death 2014
• Billions of Sparkles of Love Fade Away in the Silence of Death Like a Gust of Wind 2017
• Here, Another Night Comes from Trillions of Light Years Away 2017
• Dear Death of Mine, Thou Shalt Welcome an Eternal Death 2017
• Let's Exclaim the Youth 2019
  
  

Chandelier of Grief 2016 

The boundless landscape of bright chandelier lights in a dark space filled the second infinity mirror room we saw.  It had some of the attributes that are common to Kusama's installations.  The endlessness of images crafted by artful arrangement of the mirrors.  It can be a challenge to work out what is real and what is just a reflection.  The lighting and music were an important part of the experience.  Lights were choreographed to shine and dim in rhythms, rotating through gradually changing colours.  We stood and watched in awe as the ambient melodies of "If everything was good" (by Silicon Estate (featuring Mimi) played around us.  

It was like stepping into another world.  Somewhere dreamlike where you could lose yourself in beautiful sights and sounds.  To be there alone for a long period would be just so relaxing.  It is less relaxing because there are other people in there.  They have also queued to see it so I can't resent their presence but it does make it harder to take photos.  And I am so busy taking photos that the 30 seconds is up quickly and then the museum guide is opening the door and herding us back into the bright lights of the real world.  I arrive outside and wished I had taken less photos and spent more time just absorbing the room.

Ladder to heaven 2019

I don't think this infinity ladder counts as a mirror room because it is just one round mirror on the floor and one on the ceiling that makes the ladder look like it goes on forever as I crane my head upwards.  But there is another ladder in the room and queue for the Chandelier of Grief and maybe a few other bits and pieces so it is more exhibit than installation.  There is no queue for this which is great and also means that people crowd around it and there is not the space when a limited number of people are allowed into the infinity rooms.

This photo looks down where the same infinity ladder goes down without end.  The light rotates through different colours so it took quite a few photos to get this one with the green lighting.  Green is such a lovely colour but I guess there is something for all tastes.  I love this photo that looks as if my phone has the power to throw out the light of this dotted ladder.

The Hope of the Polka Dots Buried in Infinity Will Eternally Cover the Universe 2019 

This installation is an infinity room where there is no queue.  It is a thoroughfare from one part of the second section to the other.  I first check it out when we were queuing to see the pumpkin lanterns but was glad I had the opportunity to return.  The bright yellows are cheery and the huge tube turn and twist through the room like a slithering snakes or alien tentacles.  The yellow dots on the yellow tubes look a little scaly to add to the feeling of being in a room with something monstrous.  Though it is more friendly than frightening. 

I read that the ceiling is 6 metres high (or 20 feet).  You can hear the sound of the air being pumped in to keep the snakes plump and floating through the air.  This installation feels endless like the other infinity room but it but uses artwork rather than mirrors to create the atmosphere.  It a fun place for kids to playfully run in and out of the tubes than in the infinity mirror rooms where people wander around cautiously in the gloom. 

With All My Love for the Tulips, I Pray Forever 2013 

This infinity room has a tulip painted to match the multi coloured polka dots on white that cover the walls, floor and ceiling.  It is camoflagued so carefully that it is not immediately obvious. 

But when you are close up you see the flower very clearly and it is beautiful.  It is so big that it reminds me a little of Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors but this is no venus flytrap that will gobble you up.  It is a very bright and friendly presence.

Love is Calling 2013 

This infinity mirror room was Sylvia's favourite.  Stalactites hang from the ceiling and stalagmites stand at attention on the floor, covered in black dots.  The lighting rotates through bright colours so that at any one time the structures are all different hues.  And the mirrors make an infinity of these coloured pointy dotty shapes like being in a magical cave. 

The entrance to this infinity room was less conspicuous than the other ones.  Perhaps this is why the queue was much smaller than others.  There were only a handful of people waiting.  When we came out exclaiming at how amazing it was, we looked a short wait and queued for another 30 seconds inside.  We could have gone in a third time but by then time was marching on and so did we!

My Heart Is Filled To The Brim With Sparkling Light this infinity room

My favourite infinity room was "My Heart is filled....".  This installation debuts at this NGV exhibition.  The darkened room is filled with pinpricks of red, blue, green and purple lights that shine out of small halls in mirror balls.  The lights sparkle and shimmer and change colour like clusters of twinkling stars.  Like other infinity rooms this is a wonderful immersive experience, even with the limits of a time limit and sharing the space with other people.

I did not take the name of these paintings but I liked that they all featured green.  Some of Kusama's painting remind me of Indigenous art.  It has a lot of beauty and simplicity.

Flower Obsession 

The final installation is an old friend.  Flower Installation impressed and entertained me years ago in 2018 at was exhibited at NGV in the Triennial.  Every visitor takes one red flour and places it anywhere on a series of white rooms with white furnishings.  It is so much fun to decide where to leave my mark.  And satisfying to look back and feel part of the installation.

We did not go to the Kusama for Kids exhibit - which is free.  This features the obliteration room with a similar offer for visitors to take a coloured polka dot and places it in a white room.  Unfortunately we only had time to browse the gift shop quickly and then my sister decided to squeeze in a quick trip to St Kilda (and who wouldn't when on holiday from Ireland).  So we farewelled Chris before she headed home soon after and we had an amazing drink and cake at Tori's bakery cafe,

Yayoi Kusama exhibition
NGV (National Gallery of Victoria) International
St Kilda Road, Melbourne CBD
15 December 2017 to 21 April 2025
www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/yayoi-kusama/