[pipdig_left]
[/pipdig_left]
[pipdig_right]
The highly anticipated exhibit, Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors, opened last Thursday at the Hirshhorn Museum in D.C.
The museum released timed passes for opening weekend 2 weeks ago for the sake of crowd control.
Passes were supposed to come available on their website on a Monday at 12pm. I got to their website at 12:10pm and all the passes were already sold out.
(Technically, the passes are all free so I guess I should say they were “freed out”?)
I was a little bummed at first but the exhibit is in D.C. until May so I figured I would check it out at a later time.
Luckily, our friend, Abel, hit Charles and I up on Friday to see if we wanted to go see the exhibit on Saturday since he had extra tickets. Obviously, our answer was “hell yea.” [/pipdig_right]
[pipdig_left]
[/pipdig_left]
[pipdig_right]
^^ We were given a sticker packet to add our own dots to the Obliteration Room. [/pipdig_right]
I’ve been a fan of Yayoi Kusama’s for a couple years now but this was my first time seeing her work in person.
(10 things you might not know about Yayoi Kusama here)
Interactive. Playful. Light, Phallus & Dot Filled. Going Beyond The Boundaries Of How Art Is Typically Experienced In A Museum Setting… These are the first few thoughts that come to mind as I reflect on our visit.
From the outside, each Infinity Mirrored Room is a defined space with walls and a door. But when you walk into each room, the use of mirrors and illuminated darkness create an optical illusion of infinite space.
[pipdig_left]
^^ “The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away” Infinity Mirrored Room [/pipdig_left]
[pipdig_right]
[/pipdig_right]
[pipdig_left]
[/pipdig_left]
[pipdig_right]
[/pipdig_right] ^^ “Dots Obsession – Love Transformed into Dots” Infinity Mirrored Room
With it being opening weekend, the Hirshhorn Museum was crowded AF despite the usage of timed entry passes. So much so that it kind of took away from my experience. As a result of there were being so many people in the museum, we were only allowed 20 seconds inside each room with a minimum of at least 3 people entering at a time.
(From friends who had visited the exhibit earlier in the week, they didn’t have time limit and could enter each room by themself.)
The whole process was pretty much “wait in a long line for 20-25 minutes, then rush, rush, rush because you only have 20 seconds, and then you’re done.” I tried to take in each room with my eyes before snapping a few pics but the experience was a blur and only through the photos I’m sharing today do I feel like I have time to actually “see” what I saw in person if that makes any sense.
[pipdig_left]
[/pipdig_left]
[pipdig_right]
[/pipdig_right]
[pipdig_left]
[/pipdig_left]
[pipdig_right]
[/pipdig_right]
Despite these few setbacks that also included one of the Infinity Mirrored Rooms being closed as a result of someone breaking one of the light installations 30 minutes before we were admitted into the Museum…
I left the Hirshhorn feeling introspective about what I could create and achieve if I were to also transcend beyond the current boundaries of my mind and perspective… Walking into each Infinity Mirrored Room, I saw parallels between boundaries of my head and the infinite space of my brain’s workings despite being housed inside my skull. I left feeling inspired to create, be different, and be more.
I also left with the promise that I would be back to visit again. Next time during a weekday, so I can experience the exhibit in a more leisurely pace and intimate space.
A Few Things To Note
Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors will be at the Hirshhorn in Washington, D.C. from now until May 14th, 2017. Admission into the Hirshhorn is free, however, you must reserve timed passes in advance to enter. More info HERE.
After that, the exhibit will go on a North American tour visiting 5 museums in the U.S. and Canada, including: The Seattle Art Museum, The Broad in L.A., Art Gallery of Ontario, Cleveland Museum of Art and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. If you live near any of these cities, make sure to be on the lookout for when the exhibit will be in town so you can get your artsy “resident tourist” on!
—
P.S. I recently figured out how to use short code to create 2 column layouts and am loving the new found freedom of being able to customize how I layout my photos and words in blog posts. Hope you like it as well. :)
P.P.S. Linking up w/ Wanderful Wednesday.
