Popular Yayoi Kusama Retrospective Headed to Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts

Taiwan’s hospitality industry is hoping to cash in on the Asian version of Yayoi Kusama’s touring retrospective. 

The Japanese art star’s exhibition “A Dream I Dreamed” will land in Taiwan’s southwestern city of Kaohsiung on February 7. More than 100 pieces of her work will be featured, including paintings, sculptures, installations, and documentary film footage. Her popular “Infinity Mirrored Room” is one of the most anticipated works. The installation of a mirrored room filled with lights creates a kaleidoscopic illusion of infinite shimmering space.

A new version of her large polka-dot balloons installation has also been especially created for Taiwan. “Dots Obsession 2015” uses gigantic red and white polka-dot balloons to fill a hall from floor to ceiling, enveloping the viewer in Kusama’s patterned vision.

Hotel and tour operators in the Kaohsiung region are hoping that the show will attract a large number of visitors, offering discount packages for accommodation, tickets to the art show, as well as souvenirs for NT $3,500 (about $100).

Taiwanese chat rooms have been lighting up with discussion of the upcoming exhibition, with those in Taipei voicing discontent over the capital city getting shunned for second-tier municipalities. Kusama’s show will only visit Kaohsiung and then travel to Taichung in June.

There may be profitmaking ahead if the show proves as popular as its South American version (see South America Goes Dotty for Kusama). Kusama’s retrospective “Infinite Obsession” was overwhelmed by fans in Mexico, causing a security nightmare (see Yayoi Kusama Retrospective Becomes Security Nightmare in Mexico and Kusama Fans Sleep Outside Museo Tamayo to See Show). “A Dream I Dreamed” will continue on to New Delhi at the end of 2015.

“A Dream I Dreamed” will be on view at Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, from February 7 through May 17, 2015.


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