WNDR Museum Announces Redesigned Yayoi Kusma Space and New Lounge in West Loop
Via PR
CHICAGO – WNDR Museum, Chicago’s original immersive art and technology experience, located in the city’s West Loop, today introduced a reimagined atrium featuring the installation of Yayoi Kusma’s LOVE IS CALLING, alongside a relocated WNDR Lounge, offering a variety of local fare to both ticketed and non-ticketed guests.
“At WNDR Museum, we’re always evolving and looking for new and exciting ways to spark curiosity and creativity in our guests,” said WNDR Museum’s Brad Keywell. “The addition of the reimagined WNDR Lounge and our newest work by Yayoi Kusama demonstrate our commitment to making world-class artworks accessible to the public while providing a community hub in our hometown of Chicago.”
LOVE IS CALLING
WNDR’s largest infinity room to date by artist and global icon Yayoi Kusama, LOVE IS CALLING, invites visitors into a dark, mirrored room illuminated by inflatable forms that extend from the floor and ceiling. These soft sculptures are covered in Kusama's iconic polka dots and pulsate with a dynamic, shifting palette of colors, ranging from neon greens and pinks to deep blues and purples. The mirrored walls create an illusion of infinite space, as the colorful, dotted tentacles seem to stretch out endlessly in all directions, surrounding the viewer in a surreal, otherworldly environment. LOVE IS CALLING premiered in Japan in 2013. Its installation at WNDR Museum Chicago will mark the work’s Chicago debut.
Accompanying the visual spectacle of LOVE IS CALLING is an audio component of Kusama’s voice reciting a love poem in Japanese. The poem, whose title translates to “Residing in a Castle of Shed Tears," was written by the artist herself, reflecting her contemplations on love, existence, and the cosmos, adding an introspective and emotional layer to the sensory experience.
The WNDR Lounge
The newly-unveiled WNDR Lounge will feature both bar and lounge-style seating, offering an assortment of local food and beverage offerings including coffee, soda, cocktails and snacks. Accessible to both ticketed and non-ticketed guests from a designated entrance on Monroe St., the WNDR Lounge is open during regular WNDR Museum hours.
In addition to the WNDR Lounge, the WNDR Shop, also located in WNDR Museum’s atrium, features an assortment of unique goods from local makers, artists and nonprofit organizations alongside special WNDR-branded merchandise and collaborations.
Tickets & Hours
General admission tickets to WNDR Museum start at $32 and must be purchased in advance at www.wndrmuseum.com. Children’s tickets are available for children ages 12 and under and start at $22. Children ages two and under receive free admission.
About Yayoi Kusama
Born and raised in Japan, Yayoi Kusama emerged as an artist during the Vietnam War era and continues to make work that reaches diverse audiences worldwide. Throughout her prolific practice spanning over six decades, Kusama has consistently created artwork about repetition and the concept of infinity. In 1965, Kusama produced her first Infinity Mirror Room. This marked a move from the material repetition found in the artist’s paintings and sculptures to the illusion of infinite space using mirrors. Since then, Kusama has made more than twenty unique rooms.
Yayoi Kusama is one of the world’s most iconic artists working today. With connections to Pop Art, Minimalism, psychedelia and popular culture, Kusama’s multidisciplinary career transcends categories as the artist continues to innovate over a career spanning more than 70 years. Kusama’s artistic practice encompasses paintings, sculpture, installations, works on paper, performances, films, fashion, design and literary works. Her work across this wide breadth of media alludes to both microscopic and macroscopic universes.