AGO hopes to raise $1M in 15 days

The Art Gallery of Ontario’s crowdfunding drive to buy one of Yayoi Kusama’s famous Infinity Rooms is half over, but so far it has only reached 25 per cent of the goal.

The ambitious campaign, which asks donors to contribute toward a total of $1.3 million over 30 days, is the first of its kind in the gallery’s recent history. The AGO has already secured $1 million of the $2 million cost of the artwork through its foundation. An additional $300,000 is required for mounting and marketing purposes.

Given the gallery’s annual acquisition budget of $1 million, the work will be its single most expensive purchase in more than a decade.

With the campaign deadline of Nov. 30 looming, the odds of reaching the goal might seem grim, but AGO director and CEO Stephan Jost says he’s optimistic.

“I’m pretty positive,” Jost said Friday. “I’m particularly excited about the number of people who have contributed — 2,500 or so — which is a lot of people to persuade to give money to a project like this.”

Jost noted that much of the $329,000 raised by Friday afternoon came from small donors contributing $25 to $100 each. But he expects more to come from the gallery’s bigger benefactors.

“I’m pretty sure that we will reach our goal because I know our donor group,” he said. “My guess is at the end there will be gifts to support it.”

How confident is he? The gallery has already commissioned the work and construction is underway. A photo of the unnamed Infinity Room is being slowly revealed on the crowdfunding page, puzzlelike, as donations add up.

“We really want a major work by a woman artist who’s been in the art scene for 60 years,” said Jost, noting that Kusama is one of the best artists of her generation.

The bid for a permanent Infinity Room comes after Kusama’s touring exhibition garnered unprecedented demand at the AGO in the spring. More than 165,000 patrons visited it.