Tate, London
July 2022
July 23–August 29, 2022
Over the school summer holidays, Tate Modern invites visitors of all ages to help transform a blank white apartment into a sea of colorful dots. Yayoi Kusama’s The Obliteration Room opens on 23 July as part of UNIQLO Tate Play, Tate Modern’s free program of playful art-inspired activities for families. As well as having a chance to cover every available surface of the installation with bright circular stickers, families will also be able to create their own work of art to add to an ever-growing garden in the Turbine Hall.
The Obliteration Room is one of Yayoi Kusama’s most ambitious interactive works. Originally commissioned by the Queensland Art Gallery in Australia, the installation consists of a completely white space fully furnished with entirely white furniture. Visitors are handed a sticker sheet of colorful dots with which to leave their mark on this stark interior, which slowly becomes transformed into a riot of color. The work reflects Kusama’s enduring obsessions with accumulation, obliteration, and becoming one with the artwork.