A new permanent public sculpture by Yayoi Kusama has been unveiled outside London’s busiest Underground station Liverpool Street. The swirling metallic mass of reflective orbs on intertwining strings, Infinite Accumulation, offers a fresh interpretation on a classic theme in the Japanese artist’s work: that of the repeated polka dot motif.
“London is a massive metropolis with people of all cultures moving constantly,” Kusama said about her inspiration for the work. “The spheres symbolize unique personalities while the supporting curvilinear lines allow us to imagine an underpinning social structure.”
Yayoi Kusama, Infinite Accumulation (2024) outside Liverpool Street station (Elizabeth line). Commissioned as part of The Crossrail Art Programme, 2017. Photo: Thierry Bal, courtesy Ota Fine Arts and Victoria Miro, © YAYOI KUSAMA.
Kusama produced the sculpture by intuitively twisting the metal wires on a small-scale model in her studio. Born in rural Japan in 1929, she later became a prominent figure in the highly innovative, post-AbEx art scene of 1960s New York. Endlessly repeated polka dots has been one of her obsessions since childhood, representing the way in which we are all connected to something universal.
“Earth, moon, sun, and human beings all represent dots; a single particle among billions,” she once explained.
Yayoi Kusama, Infinite Accumulation (2024) outside Liverpool Street station (Elizabeth line). Commissioned as part of The Crossrail Art Programme, 2017. Photo: Thierry Bal, courtesy Ota Fine Arts and Victoria Miro, © YAYOI KUSAMA.
The eye-catching, animated sculpture rises 33 feet high and is 40 feet wide. It has been permanently installed by the eastern entrance to the Elizabeth Line, which opened to much fanfare in 2022. The work was one a series of public art commissions to celebrate the new Tube line, including Chantal Joffe’s A Sunday Afternoon in Whitechapel at Whitechapel station and Douglas Gordon’s underground-overheard at Tottenham Court Road.
It was commissioned the Crossrail Art Foundation with the support of Kusama’s London gallery Victoria Miro. “Commuters and visitors are in for a real treat when they arrive at Liverpool Street,” said Justine Simons OBE, deputy mayor for culture and the creative industries. “The arts are a vital part of London’s success, helping transform our spaces and connect our communities as we build a better London for all.”
Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin (2024). Photo: George Darrell, © YAYOI KUSAMA courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner.
Another sculpture by Kusama, one of her trademark black polka-dotted orange Pumpkins, has been installed near the Round Pond in Kensington Gardens by Serpentine until November 3. Made this year and towering some 20 feet tall, the bronze monument is her tallest ever edition from the Pumpkin series to date. The beloved autumnal vegetable has been an oft-returned to motif in Kusama’s work since 1946.