Queen of the polka dots

09 February 12

On tuesday I went to the press viewing of the brilliant new Yayoi Kusama exhibition at Tate Modern. Showing over six decades of Kusama's works across 14 rooms, there is a sampling of everything from painting, sculpture and collage to film and installation.

The standout rooms are definitely the "environments" I'm Here, but Nothing (a small furnished room covered in hundreds of glowing stickers under a black light) and the aptly named Infinity Mirrored Room - Filled with the Brilliance of life. At the risk of sounding incredibly overdramatic - it was beautiful, magical and made me feel like I wanted to have a small joyful cry. The photos and the short shaky video below don't come close to showing how epic it is and I can't seem to describe how it felt without making it sound like something from The Perks of Being a Wallflower. So if you can, go and experience it for yourself. The whole exhibition gives an excellent overview of Kusama's prolific body of work and is definitely worth a visit (though if you have cluster phobia then you might want to take room 10 at some speed and with eyes averted!)

The exhibition opens today and runs until the 5th of June.

Yayoi Kusama at Tate Modern from Kris Atomic on Vimeo.

(photos/video/ illustration by me)

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Comments

What a nice and glittery atmosphere!..

Antonia at Swedish Love Affair replied about 11 years ago.

This looks amazing! Especially the room in the last few photographs.

Michelle replied about 11 years ago.

What an amazing exhibit… wish i could go!

Punctuation Mark replied about 11 years ago.

This sounds incredible. I’m going to London in half term and will have to go to the Tate now.

Libby replied about 11 years ago.

So beautiful. I love artists who master so many mediums, it’s so interesting to see their style carry over into various forms. I wish I were within reasonable distance of the tate; this exhibit looks so incredible. But your photos have captured it v nicely! The video is so cool, I didn’t even realize there were people standing against the lights until a few seconds in!

catherine replied about 11 years ago.

wow that last room is beyond gorgeous

Zane replied about 11 years ago.

I’m having the urge of booking a flight to London just to see that exhibition (and run to the Mirrored Room!).

Ines replied about 11 years ago.

WOW!!! i would love to check that out in person.

Natalie replied about 11 years ago.

oh my god, I love her! ugh now I have to get to london till the summer!
her way with polka dots is unmatched.

Mini replied about 11 years ago.

I when to this in Paris in November, it’s a fabulous exhibition. The light room at the end is hypnotising, I could have spent hours in there!

Akua replied about 11 years ago.

I wish I could be in London to see this! Yayoi Kusama is brilliant!
Thanks so much for the glimpse.

teresa replied about 11 years ago.

Amazing… in particular, the silver flower dress. I love this.

...love Maegan replied about 11 years ago.

[…] però è in corso una mostra al Tate Modern Museum di Londra che Krisatomic ci racconta attraverso le foto di cui vi proponiamo una selezione e che ne tracciano un profilo al tempo stesso molto preciso, […]

Yayoi Kusama a Londra | DesignBuzz replied about 11 years ago.

looks like a very varied exhibition, really cool looking

mat replied about 11 years ago.

Hi!

Firstly, thank you for your inspiring and beautiful blog! It is one of my favourite moments of the week when you’ve updated with some new eye candy. :)

I am certainly going to this exhibition as soon as I can get to London! Not only does it seem quite magical, but I also as inspiration for a current project I am working on. It is called ‘camera obscura’, which involved designing 3 spaces for photo exhibitions – an archive within a listed building, a street and a new gallery. Basically a time line/time capsule from the past, through the current, to the future.

I therefore wanted to please ask you if you know any more (past) photo/installation exhibitions that had interesting rooms/layouts/interactive elements/play with light/general display? Or perhaps you know any good websites/books/exhibition catalogs that look at the overall set up, rather than purely the content of exhibitions?

Take care! Love, Emma

emma replied about 11 years ago.

I adore Yayoi Kasuma. I am so excited about seeing this exhibition!!! Looks like an amazing retrospective.
Nice photos. Love the self-portrait in the lights!
x

sarah replied about 11 years ago.

Wow, I really admire how you were able to really capture the colors and experiences of the exhibit. Wish I lived in the UK! Thanks for sharing such lovely photos for those of us who won’t be able to see the exhibit.

Lindsay replied about 11 years ago.

omigosh! i really wish this was somwhere in the US. amazing!

knitxcore replied about 11 years ago.

wow, everything really looks so impressive. I adore Yayoi Kusama!
that room is fantastic, but I must say I’m totally in love with project that she did with kids and stickers, so fantastic.

Barbara replied about 11 years ago.

It really looks amazingly beautiful and fun. Hope to get to London soon to see it myself. Thanks for sharing :)

Sefi replied about 11 years ago.

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Hi, I'm Kris. This is an archive of my blog as it was from 2007 to 2014. It's no longer updated but feel free to browse through the past.

 

You can find my recent work at krisatomic.com, or drop me an email and say hello. 

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