Kusama's Infinity Rooms Will Be All Over Instagram. Do They Live Up To The Hype?

If you don't know what an infinity room is: firstly, where have you been? and secondly, they're about to be plastered all over your Instagram feed.

The concept is simple enough; Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama's mirrored art installations make whatever appears in the room seemingly stretch on forever — stellar lights, a palatial chandelier, and, of course, you.

Chandelier of Grief is centred around a spinning chandelier reflecting off the hexagonal walls; I feel like I'm lost in the most opulent hall of mirrors.

Inside Filled With the Brilliance of Life, I stand on a path with water either side, while colour-changing lights stretch off into the distance. It's like floating in space or being in the middle of a stellar explosion.

The temptation here is to snap loads of selfies (and why not, it's allowed) but the true magic is in standing, admiring, receding into a magical dimension of light and colour.

Neither of these rooms are new; the Chandelier of Grief was shown at Victoria Miro in 2016 and the other, at Kusama's major exhibition at Tate Modern in 2012. I was fortunate enough to have visited both, yet here I am, an infinity room veteran, still grinning like an idiot.

Tate also provides photos, a video and a smaller mirrored work to give wider context to Kusama and what she's trying to achieve. Everyone might be taking pictures of themselves, but the infinity rooms are about self-obliteration. When we're inside who we are and what the world looks like outside doesn't matter — we dissolve into nothingness, we all come from stardust, and this is the closest we'll ever come to returning to it.   

Each visitor gets just two minutes in each room, but in that time, you'll be freed from your worldly troubles and leave with a spring in your step.

Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms at Tate Modern has now been extended until 20 April 2024. Tickets must be booked well in advance.

All images © Yayoi Kusama. Photo © Tate (Joe Humphrys)