A room that’s askew
The AGO launches campaign to fund a permanent Infinity Room designed by Yayoi Kusama,
Have you ever dreamed of sleeping in one of Yayoi Kusama’s famous Infinity Rooms?
You can, but the price tag will be steep: $1.3 million (or about $1 million U.S. for American fans).
“There won’t be someone outside with a stopwatch,” promises Stephan Jost, director and CEO of the Art Gallery of Ontario, in an interview with the Star. “We will let the donor sleep inside for a full 12 hours and you even get bathroom breaks.”
The Toronto art institution announced Thursday an unprecedented fundraising campaign to acquire Canada’s first permanent Infinity Room by the Japanese artist.
The AGO wants to raise $1.3 million in crowdfunding over the next 30 days. One million dollars, representing half the cost of the $2-million work, has already been raised by the gallery’s foundation.
An additional $300,000 is needed to mount and market the work.
The Star asked Jost if he would allow a donor inside the exhibit itself if they wanted to pay the full freight: the ulti- mate in bully bids by a well-heeled Kusama fan.
“You can sleep on a brand new futon in the piece and get totally immersed in the art like no one else,” said Jost.
In the spring, more than 165,000 patrons saw the artist’s touring exhibition, amid unprecedented demand and lineups for one of the world’s most popular living contemporary artists. Inside the intricate mirrored rooms within the display, visitors were asked to move along after as little as 20 seconds, to let others waiting in line have a turn.
The AGO is so confident that it will raise the funds it has already contracted the work, which is under construction. Jost won’t reveal exactly what the project will be but says that it has never been exhibited in Canada and that it is “larger than most of her pieces.”
The Kusama work represents the most the art gallery has spent on a single work in more than a decade. The annual acquisition budget of the AGO is a modest $1 million and spread across all departments. It raises the question: why ask the public to fund a work of art by a Japanese artist and not a Canadian?
“Kusama transcends nationality. She’s more than just a Japanese artist, she’s a global one,” answers Jost. “And we’re a global institution.”
Jost says the AGO wanted to start a crowdfunding campaign for Kusama because of the immense popularity of her travelling exhibit.
The gallery also has more than 150,000 emails from people who wanted to buy tickets to the exhibition, a key advantage in attracting donors.
“My thought is, if this is successful, we should do a Canadian artist as well,” Jost adds.
This is not the first time the AGO has tried crowdfunding. Back in 1958, for $10 per donor, you could buy a square inch of Italian master Tintoretto’s Christ Washing His Disciples’ Feet, which is still on display today. The purchase price was $85,000, about equivalent to $700,000 today.
“The question was raised, could you do something equivalent? And that wasn’t hard to find,” says the CEO.
There are 18 museums globally that own Kusama rooms, according to the AGO. Very few have permanent exhibitions. They include The Broad in Los Angeles, the Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona and the Yayoi Kusama Museum in Tokyo.
Jost, however, isn’t calling this a “permanent” exhibition. “Forever is a long time. But we tend not to take down the most popular things,” he says.
Still, given the hefty outlay, what’s to say that Toronto won’t be stuck with the artistic pop art equivalent of a Cabbage Patch Doll? The AGO is banking that Kusama’s works will only become more important.
Kusama was born in Japan in 1929. She suffered from halluci- nations and nightmares as a child and has found solace in art ever since.
After studying traditional Japanese-style painting, she moved to New York City in1958 where she exhibited with avant-garde artists, including Andy Warhol, Allan Kaprow and Claes Oldenburg.
A painter, writer, sculptor and former art dealer, she voluntarily lives in a psychiatric hospital in Tokyo. Kusama developed her signature Infinity Rooms as a sort of refuge.
“She connects all the modern art touchstones of minimalism, performance and pop art. She’s the only artist who links all three of those movements,” says Jost.
And don’t worry if you don’t have $1.3 million. Donors of $25 or more will have a chance to see the exhibit in spring 2019 before it opens to the public. Buttons and umbrellas will also be part of the gifting, as well as a “polka-dot party” for the high rollers of $500 or more. View the donor tiers at infinityago.ca; as more donations pour in, a photo of the Kusama work destined for Toronto will slowly be revealed on the site.
Donors within the first five days of the campaign, from Nov. 1to 5, will be entered into a draw for a sleepover at the AGO with five friends, including exclusive access to the Infinity Room. It’s the next best thing to sleeping inside it.