Yayoi Kusama - You, Me and the Balloons - immersive and fun for all

You Me and the Balloons, immersive mirrored infinity installation

Yayoi Kusama’s You, Me and the Balloons opened as part of Manchester’s International Festival 2023. It featured three decades of the artist’s inflatable hallucinogenic creations in polka-dots and was her largest immersive show to date. Kusama’s work filled Aviva’s soaring warehouse in Manchester’s new music, arts and events space. Drawing crowds from across the globe she primarily works in large-scale sculpture and installation, featuring her characteristic polka-dot motifs.

Immerse yourself with Yayoi Kusama

The show was an immersive experience, a magical cosmos filled with ten metre high surreal inflatable sculptures, dolls, tendrilled landscapes and infinity spheres covered in seemingly endless polka-dots.

On one level Kusama can be seen as a conceptual commercial pop artist as the show is family friendly, fun and immersive with broad appeal. Almost like a day out to a local amusement park. On another level Kusama’s work also includes themes that are uniquely autobiographical, psychological, surreal, psychedelic, abstract and feminist.

‘Our earth is only one polka dot among a million stars in the cosmos’, she has written.

What stuck when immersing in the show is the sheer scale and vastness of this playful and seemingly endless universe. There is a sense that you are enveloping yourself inside something that is much bigger than yourself. Which could lead to existential questions about the universe, our place in it and ultimately our own existence.

If you missed it you can still experience Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Rooms at the Tate Modern London until 28 April 2024. You can book tickets here.