Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now

• Dates: June 27 to October 8, 2023
• Curators: Doryun Chong and Mika Yoshitake, in collaboration with Lucía Agirre
• Sponsored by Iberdrola
• Exhibition organized by M+, Hong Kong, in collaboration with the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

• The work of Yayoi Kusama is articulated around the great themes and questions that have guided her creative explorations: Infinity, Accumulation, Radical Connectivity, Biocosmic, Death, and Force of Life.
• Through paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations, and archival materials on her happenings and performances, the exhibition shows the way in which Kusama addresses the existential questions that drive her artistic practice.
• A pioneer in the countercultural scene of the late 1960s, Kusama denounced racial and gender discriminations, critiqued war and militarism, and drew media attention with her public happenings.
• Kusama’s interest in nature is at once mystical and literal, as illustrated by her pumpkins, which the artist identifies as a kind of benevolent vegetable spirit and as a reflection of her own soul, though at the same time they offer an immediate identification with nature.
• The joyful and colorful works of her recent series, My Eternal Soul (2009–21), explore Kusama’s commitment to transforming her suffering into art “for the healing of all mankind”.

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao presents Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now, an ambitious retrospective dedicated to one of the most influential figures of contemporary art and a cultural icon of the 21st century. The exhibition, sponsored by Iberdrola, will immerse the visitor in the obsessive, singular, avant-garde universe of Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929, Japan) that has evolved and unfolded over the seven decades of her extraordinary artistic career.