Infinite Joy: Yayoi Kusama and the Healing Power of Art

This talk traces the extraordinary life and career of Yayoi Kusama, one of the most influential and recognizable artists of the contemporary era. From her early avant-garde experiments in 1950s Japan to her groundbreaking years in New York during the 1960s, and through to the global phenomenon of her immersive installations today, Kusama has built a body of work defined by repetition, infinity, and fearless self-expression.

Working across painting, sculpture, performance, and installation, Kusama has transformed deeply personal experiences—particularly her lifelong hallucinations and obsessions—into a distinctive visual language of polka dots, mirrored spaces, and endless patterns. Her work dissolves the boundaries between self and universe, inviting viewers into environments where scale, reflection, and repetition create a sense of boundless space.

Through key works including the celebrated Infinity Mirror Rooms and her monumental pumpkin sculptures, this lecture explores how Kusama turned personal struggle into a radical artistic vision that reshaped contemporary…