Yayoi Kusama, Love Forever Collage, 1966

Narrator: In this collage, Kusama gazes into a mirrored environment, a bespectacled man peering over her shoulder. They’re looking into Kusama’s Endless Love Show—a small octagonal room that was mirrored on all sides, and empty except for blinking, colored electric lights. Because the reflections bounced between the mirrors, the space seemed infinite. Kusama gave each visitor to the exhibition a badge that read “LOVE FOREVER.” She also handed out brochures that read, in part:

“Endless Love Show 1966 is about Mechanization, Repetition, Obsession, Impulse, Vertigo, and Unrealized Infinite Love. I prefer the title Kusama’s Peep Show for this exhibition, because it allows you to see things that you cannot touch.”

Fireflies on the Water, the installation on view on the first floor of the Museum, develops the ideas that Kusama explored in the Endless Love Show.