Though you won’t need to rush this time around, you’ll still want to book to your tickets early so you aren’t just seeing this spectacle via Instagram posts.
Last spring, hundreds of people lined up around the block day after day for the chance to secure tickets to the touring art exhibition Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors. A year later, following an ambitious crowdfunding campaign, the AGO announces that Canada’s first permanent Infinity Mirror Room will open to the public on May 25 as part of your general admission.
“We know that the people of Toronto have a special bond with Yayoi Kusama, and I am excited to see that grow,” said Stephan Jost, the AGO’s Michael and Sonja Koerner Director, and CEO. “Support from individuals is critical to the AGO’s mission to bring people and art together. That this incredible artwork now belongs to the people of Ontario is testament to the power of people coming together. Together, we achieved infinity.”
I was lucky enough to amongst the first to experience the new permanent and have a full two minutes, something rare for the Infinity Mirrors, but it takes a moment to orient yourself. With the starkness of the white light, the self-reflections become overwhelming, almost intrusive and as you look around, you realize you can’t escape yourself.
“I think with LET’S SURVIVE FOREVER, Kusama invites us to do the impossible – that is, to live forever. We know she will live eternally through her work. By being momentarily reflected in her mirrored room, our reflections will become one with her unique vision of infinity,” comments Adelina Vlas, the AGO’s Associate Curator for Contemporary Art as we wait to enter the room.
Acquisitions like this one continue to keep the AGO on an international level. Kusama has produced over 30 Infinity Mirror Rooms throughout her career and some of them in multiple editions
“There are approximately 20 of them on view worldwide as part of permanent collection displays or special exhibitions,” adds Vlas. “The AGO aspires to be an art museum leading global conversations and an acquisition such as this, places us in that category.”
Join Toronto and visitors from around this summer and become part of the vision infinity and the continuation to build Toronto as a global leader in art.
Portrait of Yayoi Kusama. © YAYOI KUSAMA. Courtesy YAOYI KUSAMA Inc.
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