Laumeier Sculpture Park welcomes Yayoi Kusama’s “Narcissus Garden”

This weekend, Yayoi Kusama’s Narcissus Garden will fill the Aronson Fine Art Center at Laumeier Sculpture Park with hundreds of mirrored spheres, inviting visitors to contemplate their reflections and others’ alongside the ever-repeating space itself. On view (with timed entry reservation) February 11 through May 14, Narcissus Garden is a sculptural spectacle that blends man-made and natural forms. In short, it’s an excellent fit for Laumeier’s mission to engage the community through art and nature. Ahead of the opening, we caught up with curator Dana Turkovic to discuss the ins and outs of the exhibition and bringing Kusama’s work to St. Louis.

How did the process of bringing Narcissus Garden to St. Louis begin?

I would say it really started with Lauren Ross, our executive director. She has seen this work in person and has experienced this work, and she was able to make a connection with a private collection in Connecticut. We just started a conversation with them about borrowing the work and showing it here. I think one of the reasons why we wanted to show the work is based on the idea that, when Kusama originally installed this work, it was outside…the work is installed to really mimic the pathways of a garden. It’s been installed inside in other venues, but it’s also been installed outside, so it’s been experienced in different ways. We’re just really, really excited about bringing Kusama’s work to St. Louis. This is a good work to connect with our mission.

Tell us a bit about how the work will be presented in St. Louis.

It’ll be installed in the Aaronson Fine Arts Center, which is where we show our changing exhibitions. This will be an exhibition that our visitors will have to reserve space for, and we will have all that information available on our website. There’ll be timed entry. Visitors can expect to see almost a thousand of these mirrored spheres throughout the indoor gallery and be able to walk through the pathways that we’ll create within the space so that different perspectives are created for our visitors. There’s this tendency and an invitation to want to look at yourself in the sculpture. I think that’s another fun aspect of the work; it’s not only interactive in the sense that you can walk through it and around it and within it, but also sort of seeing yourself reflected within the sculpture as well. I think that really dovetails nicely with what we do outside as well. 

The timed entry is a new thing for Laumeier, correct?

Yes, it’s a capacity thing. What we’re trying to do is really limit the amount of people, just because there’ll be almost a thousand of these spheres in the space—it does limit the amount of people that can be in there at any one time. We’re looking at between 20 and 25 people in there at a time. It’s just a way to give the visitors the best experience.

I can imagine almost being overwhelmed by a group of people’s reflections and the reflections of those reflections all filling the space.

Right. I think it’s overwhelming in the sense that you’re seeing these things in repetition. I think repetition is a very important part of Kusama’s work, especially in the Infinity Rooms that I think a lot of people are probably more familiar with. That effect is also in this work as well. You’re sort of seeing yourself from this skewed perspective in multiple objects, but also it’s bouncing the images of the environment around as well. In our case, it will be the galleries. So the architecture of the gallery will also play a role in that.

Can you tell me a little bit about the public programming plans that you have set up around this exhibition?

This is actually pretty interesting. A few years ago, Dr. Marin Sullivan, who is based in Chicago, reached out. She was doing research on a few artists and wanted to come to visit Laumeier and see our space and our collection and get to know what we do and access some of our files for her research. She had kept in touch with both Lauren and I over the years, and she has published a book and an essay within another publication titled “Reflective Acts and Mirrored Images: Yayoi Kusama’s Narcissus Garden.” I thought it would be really interesting to have her do a lecture based on her research for this essay that she created. We don’t have a space where we can have programs in the gallery, which we normally do, so it was a good opportunity to connect with Webster University. She’s going to be looking specifically at photography and the importance of photography and its relationship to the Narcissus Garden. So there’ll be that on Friday, February 17, on the campus of Webster University. And then we also reached out to the Japan America Society. We wanted to connect and try to get to understand the culture a little bit more based on where Kusama is from. Her culture does play a role in the work in different ways. We’re always looking to create partnerships with other organizations, and I think this was a good example of that. The Japan America Society was very excited about the fact that this work is coming to St. Louis…we were talking about different ways we could engage our audiences and we came up with these three programs: Kado, The Way of Flowers; Shodo, The Way of Writing; and Chado, The Way of Tea.

We have a Maker’s Night and Family Workshop as well, and there may be a few other things that we add in here. We will also have an exhibition opening [on February 11], but it won’t be our normal setup for an opening where we have the galleries open to the general public, because we have to do these timed entries. They’ll be first come, first served to our members, and then we’ll open up to the public for reservations.

It’s a really exciting lineup. The partnership with the Japan America Society in particular is such a great way to expose folks to another organization.

Another thing I’ll mention is that we do an In Residence program at Laumeier, and this year for 2023, we are working with AK Brown, who is what she calls a “fashion connector.” She’s a St. Louis-based fashion innovator and influencer, and she’ll be doing a program where it’s a Q&A between her and I, so that I can introduce our audiences to her and how she’ll be interacting with Laumeier over the year. One of the things that really inspired us was wanting to connect with somebody who is sort of within the world of fashion here in St. Louis and can have conversations around how art and fashions connect. I think with Kusama, it’s such a great example of that with her collaboration with Louis Vuitton. Kusama had a previous collaboration on a series of bags and other products for them, but just recently a new collection of bags and other products have come out based on Narcissus Garden. We just thought it was a good opportunity to expand the conversation a little bit and make those connections between how art influences fashion and vice versa.

What are you most looking forward to with this exhibition?

This particular artwork is a new challenge for me. I’m always thinking about the space, and I’m trying to think of it in a holistic way. In this particular instance, we’re only utilizing the floor space. So it kind of forces me to look at this more from different perspectives, say from an aerial view. And then also, how does one navigate this space? The fact that the walls will be completely blank and any imagery that is generated is generated by the object, for me, is the most exciting thing. It’s an opportunity for me to learn about different ways of installing artwork. I’m also just excited to bring Kusama’s work to St. Louis. I think it’s such a great opportunity for people to experience her work without having to travel too far.

It really is kind of a fascinating concept to think about how every group that goes through is going to see a slightly different version, depending on who you’re with and who’s reflected back. Nobody’s going to get the same thing twice. 

Yes, and as with most of her larger interactive installations, they’re opportunities for selfies. You’re seeing yourself within the work, but it’s so experiential that it just begs for images and photographs and situating yourself within it. Making those connections, I think, is going to be fun.

What would you most like folks to know about this exhibition?

I think it’s always, for me, that connection between art and nature, and this is a very didactic way of thinking about it. It’s this indoor and outdoor connection. We’re always trying to strike that balance and make that connection for people. Going back to what I mentioned about art and fashion, I think that the same thing happens between our natural environment and our culture. So I guess my hope is that it really communicates what we’re all about here at Laumeier.