Brazil contemporary art museum opens immersive gallery dedicated to Yayoi Kusama

A museum in Brazil, theInstituto Inhotim in Brumadinho, a city of forty thousand inhabitants in the state of Minas Gerais on the outskirts of Belo Horizonte, has opened a permanent gallery (the institute’s 20th) dedicated to Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama (Matsumoto, 1929). Inside the museum, visitors will be able to immerse themselves in two of the artist’s works, I’m Here, But Nothing (2000) and Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity (2009), which are part of the Inhotim collection, collected over the years by collector Bernardo Paz, who moreover purchased Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity in the same year it was made(I’m Here, But Nothing was instead purchased in 2008).

Yayoi Kusama is one of the most influential artists in contemporary art worldwide, recognized for the diversity of formats and languages that support her works, in which her immersive installations stand out, inviting the public to enter a universe that sharpens the understanding of what is considered reality. The concept of self-annulment drives the artist from his desire to deny individual existence and merge with the infinite, and is present in his performances, paintings, sculptures, installations, literary works, films and other works.

The opening of Galeria Yayoi Kusama, as it has been renamed, “fulfills a central artistic ambition of Inhotim, which is about the work of an artist who figures among the most visionary artists of our time,” says Inhotim co-founder Allan Schwartzman. "This occasion allows us to provide a permanent presence for 3 of the artist’s most iconic works, with Narcissus Garden (1966-2009), also drawn from the Inhotim Collection, completing the artist’s presentation. Each work embodies a distinctly different environmental expression of the artist’s creative universe: the optical transformation of a dark room into a psychological place of sensory overload; a contemplative room of infinity; and a suspended floating garden composed of countless metal spheres hovering above Inhotim’s natural landscape. Galeria Yayoi Kusama embodies Inhotim’s highest goals to provide unique environments for the experience of exceptional large-scale artworks for a wide and diverse audience."

The architectural design of Galeria Yayoi Kusama was developed by architects Fernando Maculan (MACh) and Maria Paz (Rizoma). It encompasses an area of more than 1,400 square meters located on the Orange Trail, near the Cosmococa Galeria and the Path Garden. “Given the importance of Yayoi Kusama’s work and its well-known appeal to a wide audience, the gallery design provides ample space for waiting and preparation,” the architects explain. The landscape of Galeria Yayoi Kusama is characterized by a winding path made of stones that reveals the curves of the gallery to the public, the curves of the path before it, arousing the curiosity of those who arrive. The landscape design was created by Juliano Borin, Inhotim’s botanical curator, Geraldo Farias, of the Inhotim Botanical Garden team, with input from Bernardo Paz. A multicolored tropical garden with a touch of psychedelia serves as the inspiration for the designed garden where more than 4,000 bromeliads were planted.

The works I’m Here, But Nothing and Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity are two large-scale installations that question notions of permanence and transience, merging the individual with the whole and changing the way space is perceived. The first, bathed in black light, is an ordinary domestic environment that glows with countless colored points of light. The furniture and objects that make up I’m Here, But Nothing are those found in any home, such as a sofa, TV, table, chairs, picture frames, rugs, and other decorative objects. Fluorescent dots are stickers scattered all over the walls, all objects, the ceiling, and the floor. Under black light (UV-A, ultraviolet), these colored dots glow in the viewer’s gaze, transforming space, activating perception and, in a sense, filling a void. The work can also be perceived as part of the artist’s concept of self-obliteration, that is, the dissolution of the viewer in the environment itself (which, for some people, can bring a sense of security to be in contact with recognizable objects and furniture, while for others it can bring a feeling more related to absence, as the work’s title suggests).

Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity (2009) is based on the tenets of the artist’s philosophy of self-destruction, the desire to deny one’s own existence by uniting with the infinite, as part of a whole. In this immersive environment, the proposal is to transport the viewer into a completely different universe from the outside, a transcendental cosmos. The appearance of the work evokes a continuous lantern-lit mirage, which fades away as our perception moves away from reality. In Japanese tradition, this kind of illumination is linked to spirituality, to connection with ancestors.

“In both works, with distinct appearances, Yayoi Kusama draws on the concept of self-obliteration, which the artist has been investigating in her work for many decades. The idea is to think about the dissolution of individualism, seeking a communion with the universal, blurring the boundaries of what is artwork, space, body and landscape,” explains Douglas de Freitas, curator of Inhotim. "In I’m Here, But Nothing a recognizable domestic space is the starting point for an alteration of the perception of space through light and polka-dot stickers in fluorescent ink. In Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity the artist creates a space opposite to that recognizable in the other work. The play of mirrors and light creates a cosmos, an image of emptiness that is gradually illuminated and reflected infinitely."

The gallery remains open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (until 5 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays): for I’m Here, But Nothing the visit can be done in groups of up to eight people who stay in the room for one to three minutes, while Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity can be visited individually (or in pairs or three, it is up to the individual visitor to decide) and is allowed a maximum time of one minute (maximum 30 people per hour), and a password is required to enter and is assigned with the ticket.

Brazil contemporary art museum opens immersive gallery dedicated to Yayoi Kusama

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