Photo: David Zwirner and Yayoi Kusama Studio Inc.
Celebrated Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is set to open her own museum in October 2017. The prolific artist, most well-known for her Mirror Room installations, recently announced without warning that the new Yayoi Kusama museum would open in Tokyo’s Shinjuku neighborhood.
A website for the museum is now online, stating that the first exhibition will be Creation Is a Solitary Pursuit, Love Is What Brings You Closer to Art. Showing paintings from the series My Eternal Soul, it will run from October 1, 2017 to February 25, 2018. Timed tickets are priced at 1,000 yen (about $9) and will be available for purchase from August 28 from the museum’s website.
Interestingly, the five-story Kume Sekkei building that will house the museum was finished in 2014. At the time, the sleek piece of architecture, with large glass inserts, was quite mysterious, as no one knew what it would be used for. Kusama’s announcement clears up the mystery, making it a new monument of contemporary art.
Photo: Masahiro Tsuchido for Yayoi Kusama
The space will house a gift shop on the ground floor, while floors 2 and 3 will display Kusama’s artwork, from paintings to sculpture and other mixed media. The 4th floor will house the interactive, immersive installations that have made the artist a household name, while the top floor will surely attract researchers who want to peruse the artist’s archive in the dedicated reading room.
The museum, under the direction of Tensei Tatebata, president of Tama Art University and director of the Saitama Museum of Modern Art, will also hold two rotating exhibitions a year. Its opening places Kusama on the short list of artists, including Dalí, who actually conceived and opened their own museums during their lifetime. And if attendance to her traveling installations is any indication, the public will certainly be lining up for tickets.
Yayoi Kusama Museum: Website
h/t: [Huffington Post, Spoon & Tamago]
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