Gallery Starts Crowdfunding Campaign for a Yayoi Kusama

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Yayoi Kusama, "Infinity Mirrored Room – The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away," 2013

wood, metal, glass mirrors, plastic, acrylic panel, rubber, LED lighting system, acrylic balls, and water, 287.7 × 415.3 × 415.3 cm. Courtesy of David Zwirner, N.Y. © Yayoi Kusama

The Art Gallery of Ontario has launched an ambitious $1.3 million crowdfunding campaign to acquire Canada's first Infinity Mirror Room by internationally acclaimed artist Yayoi Kusama.

A week into its month-long campaign, the gallery had raised about 25 per cent of its goal.

Earlier this year, more than 165,000 people were wowed by the Japanese artist's show at the gallery. The demand for tickets was unprecedented and lineups stretched around the block.

The gallery has secured half the purchase price and the #InfinityAGO campaign invites donations for the remaining $1.3 million. The campaign can be found online at InfinityAGO.ca.

"Yayoi Kusama is one of the most important artists alive today," said the gallery's director, Stephan Jost. "The opportunity to have an Infinity Mirror Room as part of the AGO's collection is deeply exciting." 

The gallery did not identify the work it hopes to acquire but did say it has never been shown in Canada. 

It's the first time a Canadian art museum has launched a crowdfunding campaign of this scale to acquire a contemporary artwork.

Kusama, who is based in Tokyo, is interested in the optics and interactive elements of mirrors, electric lights, sound and kinetics. Her visibility grew in the late 1960s through her radical anti-war happenings, which put nudity and polka dots into the streets of New York. She has achieved celebrity status in recent years.

Source: Art Gallery of Ontario