The Self in Relation to the World: How Yayoi Kusama Instigates Existentialism

In exploring Yayoi Kusama’s body of art, from her Net Painting series to her Infinity Room series, this project is uncovering and analyzing how Kusama’s art engages the world. As an artist, Kusama is consistently imploring spectators to relinquish their ego and submit to “to being one polka among a million stars in the cosmos.” With the increase in interactivity at museums, Kusama’s art, with its message of democratization and obliteration of the self, seems to anticipate these values. Conversely, Kusama’s art is complicated by this global digitalized society and the growing selfie-culture of the world.