Aspen Art Museum

For nearly seventy years, Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama has focused on themes of eternity, the sublime, and cosmic infinity across a wide range of media and genres. Central to Kusama’s practice is her acclaimed Infinity Mirror Rooms series—immersive environments in which mirrors create the illusion of an expansive, infinite space. Active within the Pop, Minimalist, Happenings, and feminist movements in the 1960s, Kusama continues to create works that straddle the tenets central to each of these movements. Her output is consistently playful, often incorporating polka dots, reflective surfaces, and all matter of bulbous and natural forms.

This winter, one of Kusama’s iconic rooms, Where the Lights in My Heart Go (2016), will be installed outdoors in the AAM Roof Deck Sculpture Garden. Kusama’s Where the Lights in My Heart Go (2016) is a ten-by-ten-foot polished stainless-steel room with a mirrored interior. Small holes in the walls and ceiling allow natural light to penetrate the darkened room. Multiplied by the reflective mirrored surfaces, these pinholes of light create an immersive kaleidoscopic experience for visitors. Where the Lights in My Heart Go (2016) is intentionally placed outdoors on the AAM’s Roof Deck, where it will reflect the adjacent Aspen Mountain, the exterior architecture of the Museum, and the natural surroundings and elements more broadly. Its mirrored exterior creates the illusion of a continuously expanding universe, toying with our sense of visual perception.