New York Botanical Garden Announces 2021 Dates for Major Yayoi Kusama Exhibition

The New York Botanical Garden has announced the official 2021 opening dates for its highly-anticipated exhibition on Yayoi Kusama. Entitled “KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature,” the outdoor and indoor showcase was initially postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The presentation will encompass a total of four new experiences alongside a sprawling display of works and installations across the Garden’s landscape, conservatory and its other institutional spaces in The Bronx.

“KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature” pays homage to the prolific career of the acclaimed Japanese artist. The exhibition and related programs will shed light on the artist’s lifelong fascination with the natural world beginning with her childhood that was spent in the greenhouses and fields of her family’s seed nursery in Matsumoto, Japan. Highlighted works include horticultural displays and monumental sculptures of flora.

Among the works to go on display are Flower Obsession (2017/2021) which is Kusama’s first-ever obliteration greenhouse, a towering sculpture called Dancing Pumpkin 2020, and a 13-foot-tall biomorphic form entitled I Want to Fly to the Universe 2020 which will be installed at the Garden’s conservatory. Of course, fans of Kusama will line up for her new outdoor Infinity Mirrored Room—Illusion Inside the Heart (2020) which will reflect the museum’s natural surroundings.

“For Kusama, cosmic nature is a life force that integrates the terrestrial and celestial orders of the universe from both the micro- and macrocosmic perspectives she investigates in her practice,” said guest curator Mika Yoshitake.

“KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature” will go on view from April 10 until October 31, 2021. Visit the New York Botanical Garden’s website to learn more.

Elsewhere in art, Damien Hirst is currently unveiling new works as part of his multi-site “Mental Escapology” exhibition in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

New York Botanical Garden
2900 Southern Blvd
The Bronx, NY 10458