You might recognise Yayoi Kusama from her bold pumpkins or her kaleidoscopic infinity rooms. This phenomenal contemporary artist has captivated audiences with her colourful creations, leading to sold out exhibitions around the world. And soon, the largest Kusama exhibition in Australia is coming to Melbourne. See her striking creations take over the ground floor of National Gallery Victoria this summer, with beloved pieces from her eight-decade career, as well as never-before-seen works. The Yayoi Kusama exhibition will open at NGV on Sunday December 15, and run until Monday April 21 in 2025.
Yayoi Kusama exhibition at NGV
This massive summer exhibition will showcase over 180 artworks by Kusama. Featuring painting, sculpture, collage, fashion, video and installation, this will be one of the most comprehensive retrospectives of the artist ever presented globally. It will explore her entire career, from her childhood in the 1930s to the present day. Her work will take over the ground floor, and extend into the surrounding areas like the Waterwall and Great Hall.
See Kusama’s iconic pumpkins throughout the exhibition, including the newly acquired, five-metre-tall sculpture, Dancing Pumpkin, which is now on display and free to see in Federation Court.
Also making an appearance is a new iteration of Narcissus Garden, which was first presented at the Venice Biennale in 1966. This installation is made up of 1400 stainless silver balls, which will be on display as you first enter the gallery. Each metallic sphere is 30cm in diameter, and as they reflect one another, they create an endless reflection for you to lose yourself in.
There will also be a dedicated display in the kids gallery, as well as the return of NGV Friday Nights.
Installations
Look forward to a total of ten signature immersive artworks across the main exhibition and the accompanying children’s exhibition, Kusama for Kids. This will be the most ever assembled in one location.
Feel mesmerised by the world-premiere work, Infinity Mirrored Room – My Heart is Filled to the Brim with Sparkling Light, 2024. This never-before-seen piece will be the latest in Kusama’s series of infinity mirror rooms, which she first debuted in the 1960s. Step inside the spectacular space and feel dazzled by a seemingly infinite universe.
Another highlight will be the Australian premiere of The Hope of the Polka Dots Buried in Infinity Will Eternally Cover the Universe, 2019. This six-metre high piece is made up of tentacular forms, covered in yellow and black polka dots.
Walk through an iteration of Dots Obsession, 1996/2024, and see endless mirrors, polka dots and biomorphic inflatables.
For more mirror rooms, see the Chandelier of Grief, 2016, and watch a single chandelier rotating inside a glass prism, in the centre of a hexagonal, mirrored space. Then, see colourful, luminous, tentacle-like forms in Love is Calling, 2013. After that, look through a small opening and see a hidden landscape of glowing pumpkins in The Spirits of the Pumpkins Descended into the Heavens, 2017.
Flower Obsession, which was commissioned for the 2017 NGV Triennial, will make a return. Join in on the artwork and add red flowers to walls, furniture and objects. Over the course of the exhibition, the flowers will gradually cover all of the surfaces in the space, and become a vibrant thing to behold.
Another participatory experience, The Obliteration Room, 2002-present, will be on display in Kusama for Kids. Add your sticker to hundreds and thousands in a white space. Eventually, the room will be ‘obliterated’ with multitudes of coloured dots.
Other immersive installations include Invisible Life 2000/24, a twisting corridor with mirrors, and With All My Love for the Tulips, I Pray Forever, 2013, which features three massive tulips in a polka-dotted environment.
Tickets for the exhibition are on sale now.