A Celestial Expanse: Yayoi Kusama’s New Infinity Room in NGV Melbourne

The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne will unveil My Heart is Filled to the Brim with Sparkling Light (2024), a new Infinity Mirrored Room by Yayoi Kusama, as part of a major retrospective of her work. This world-premiere installation transforms the gallery into an immersive realm of endless reflections, creating the illusion of a vast, celestial expanse shimmering with light and infinite depth.

This retrospective spans eight decades of Kusama’s career, presenting over 200 works, including ten immersive installations. Highlights include the Australian premieres of Dancing Pumpkin (2020)—a towering 5-metre-tall sculpture adorned with Kusama’s signature yellow and black polka dots—and The Hope of the Polka Dots Buried in Infinity Will Eternally Cover the Universe (2019), an installation featuring oversized, tentacle-like forms.

The NGV’s Great Hall will feature Dots Obsession, a striking installation of inflated spheres enveloped in Kusama’s iconic polka dots. Outside, more than 60 trees along St Kilda Road will be wrapped in vibrant pink-and-white polka dots as part of Ascension of Polka Dots on the Trees, seamlessly extending her artistic presence beyond the gallery walls and into the cityscape.

This exhibition offers a comprehensive look at Kusama’s multidisciplinary practice, tracing her creative journey from her formative works in 1930s Japan to her pioneering mirrored environments of the 1960s and her ongoing innovations today. The display encapsulates her lifelong exploration of themes such as infinity, repetition, and the blending of physical and metaphysical realms.

Occupying the entire ground floor of NGV International, this is the most extensive Kusama exhibition ever held in Australia. Visitors will encounter works across diverse media, including painting, sculpture, installation, and fashion, gaining a deep understanding of her evolution as one of the most significant contemporary artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Anchored by the world premiere of My Heart is Filled to the Brim with Sparkling Light, this exhibition invites audiences to step directly into Kusama’s mirrored environments and experience her unique perspective on infinity and universality. This Melbourne showcase promises to be an unmissable event for both dedicated art enthusiasts and those encountering her work for the first time, offering a rare opportunity to immerse oneself in the visionary world of Yayoi Kusama.