UPCOMING

The 1990s marked a pivotal period for Yayoi Kusama, as she re-emerged in the international art scene with explosive success following her return to Japan. In 1993, she became the first contemporary artist to present a solo exhibition at the Japan Pavilion of the Venice Biennale. Her status as a major figure in contemporary art was cemented in the five years that followed, with retrospectives at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. In 1998, she was invited by then-director of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Lin Mun-Lee, and curator Fumio Nanjo, to create the large-scale installation, Dots Obsession, for the Taipei Biennial. The work occupies the museum’s courtyard with seven fluorescent pink balloons covered with black polka dots. It was a defining moment in her exploration of the dialogue between large-scale sculptures and public spaces. This exhibition also marked the beginning of an enduring relationship between this globally celebrated artist and Taiwan.

“‘Trajectory’ and ‘Miracle’” opens with a re-created version of Dots Obsession, the very work that marked Kusama’s Taiwan debut, and features 70 meticulously selected works spanning from 1951 to 2005. Organized into four sections—“Kusama in Full Bloom,” “Dots as Origins,” “Kusama’s Quiescence,” and “Love Forever”—the exhibition traces the artist’s creative explorations and experimentations throughout her career, while reflecting on the vicissitudes of her life journey. This exhibition draws on the unique vision of the W Collection, and builds on the success of “‘Trajectory’ and ‘Miracle’ — KUSAMA Yayoi 1951-2005 from the W Collection” at the Aomori Museum of Art in Japan. MoNTUE has collaborated closely with the Yayoi Kusama Studio to not only recreate Dots Obsession, but also present a selection of rarely exhibited performance documentations and couture pieces, highlighting the formative influence of her early happenings on her broader artistic trajectory.

Upon entering MoNTUE, visitors are greeted by massive organic forms that stretch across the lofty exhibition space. Moving through this area, they are transported into Kusama’s world—immersed in an infinite repetition of dots. Large-scale installations such as Dots Obsession, alongside soft sculptures and her signature paintings, capture the essence of “Kusama in Full Bloom” after 1985, a period marked by her rise to global prominence. During this time, her work shed the melancholy of the 1970s, radiating a vital and liberated creative energy. The third-floor gallery space, resembling a corridor through time, traces her artistic trajectory in “Dots as Origins” by showcasing her early dot motifs and nihonga works, illustrating how the young Kusama translated her perceptions of nature, familial dynamics, and the social landscape of World War II through her paintbrush.

Her period of setbacks in the United States and the tumultuous years following her return to Japan in 1973 are explored in “Kusama’s Quiescence.” Numerous pastel, ink, and collage-based two-dimensional works delve into the artist’s fears, anxiety, despair, and yearning during this chaotic phase of her life. The basement “Love Forever” section highlights the happenings she initiated in the late-1960s. This area interweaves four documentaries of her avant-garde performances, including Flower Orgy, with the large-scale installation Driving Image, and several precious, hand-painted garments she created for her early happenings. These elements reveal the complex imagination that this unparalleled artist has brought to the public perception of anti-war activism, sexuality, the body, and love.

The “‘Trajectory’ and ‘Miracle’” exhibition sheds light on the intricately interwoven relationship between Yayoi Kusama’s life experiences and artistic language. By revisiting the “trajectory” of her artistic practices, the exhibition scrutinizes how the artist has persistently forged new paths of possibility while embracing the “miracle” of art and life.