Although Yayoi Kusama‘s exhibitions set to take place this year at the Gropius Bau in Berlin, the New York Botanical Garden, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and Tate Modern in London may have been postponed due to the pandemic, one of the artist’s famous works will still get a showcase in the United States.
Narcissus Garden, a 1966 work which comprises mirrored orbs arranged on the ground, has gone on view at the Momentary, the contemporary art satellite of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. It will remain at the space, currently open with reduced capacity, for at least a year.
[Read about Yayoi Kusama’s career and how she rose to international fame.]
Kusama debuted Narcissus Garden in 1966 at the Venice Biennale in an unofficial exhibition lampooning the art market. At the event, the artist stood alongside her artwork and a sign reading “Your Narcissism for Sale,” selling the shiny spheres to visitors for two dollars each. (The original presentation of Narcissus Garden featured 1,500 orbs; the exhibition at the Momentary includes 900.)
The installation has since been shown over 40 times around the world, at venues such as the Hayward Gallery in London, the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art in Las Vegas, Central Park in New York, Fort Tilden in the Rockaways in New York, the Tuileries Garden in Paris, MoCA Westport in Connecticut, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark, the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, the Atlanta Botanical Garden in Georgia, and more institutions.