Savanah Catalina, 20, looks up at the reflections in the mirrored ceiling of the Love is Calling exhibit. Amy Diaz | The Crow’s Nest
By Amy Diaz
Most exhibits at the Tampa Museum of Art are meant to be observed from a distance, but a new installation invites viewers to immerse themselves in the art.
Part of a group of exhibitions focused on love, Yayoi Kusama’s “LOVE IS CALLING,” stands out from the rest.
The installation is one of Kusama’s mirrored-room environments, or Infinity Rooms. She has created more than 20 of these immersive installations since the first debuted in 1965, but this is her largest to date.
The work blends the 89-year-old’s wide range of skills she has been honing since childhood, combining sculpture, design, installation and poetry into one experience.
From the outside, the exhibit looks like a big, white box. Its dimensions are roughly 15 by 28 feet, which makes imagining infinity from the outside nearly impossible.
And then you step inside.
Mirrors line every inch of the walls and ceiling. Even the tiled floor is reflective.
Polka-dotted tentacle-like figures are positioned around the floor and hang from the ceiling.
Dots hold significance for Kusama and have become her signature design.
“Dots are symbols of the world, the cosmos,” reads a quote from Kusama on the wall outside of the exhibit. “The Earth is a dot, the moon, the sun, the stars are all made up of dots. You and me, we are dots.”
The spotted, soft sculptures glow and change colors throughout the installation, ranging from light green and pale yellow to deep blue and hot pink. Their reflections in the mirrors seem to go on forever, creating an illusion of infinite space.
The docent in the room mentioned that a child visiting earlier accidentally ran into one of the mirrors, thinking there was more to the room. You can’t blame him.
The white box disappears, and suddenly you’re standing in a magical forest à la “Alice in Wonderland.”
As you explore the room, taking selfies for Instagram and Snapchat is highly encouraged.
In addition to visual stimulation, the room has an auditory aspect as well. Kusama’s voice can be heard reciting a love poem she wrote specifically for this installation titled, “Residing in a Castle of Shed Tears.” It reflects her thoughts on love, life and death.
Kusama recites the poem in Japanese, but an English translation is provided on the wall outside of the exhibit.
An individual experience in the infinity room can be described by one line of the poem that reads, “Dancing in the night sky in a myriad of colors, the fireworks sprinkled dust all over my body.”
Only a few people can enter the exhibit at a time, and viewers are given two minutes in the room. When time is up, patrons are escorted out and offered a seat in case the mirrored illusions and bright changing colors induced any dizziness.
The exhibit runs through Feb. 14 at the Tampa Museum of Art, 120 W Gasparilla Plaza.
Tickets can be purchased online at http://tampamuseum.org/exhibition/yayoi-kusama-love-is-calling/ and college students get in free. Be sure to purchase in advance, as tickets are based on specific time slots and the number of people allowed in the exhibit at once is limited.
