(SPOT.ph) Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is known for her infinity rooms where mirrors, lights, and sound turn her otherwise two-dimensional works into a kaleidoscopic world. One of Kusama's installations, “Infinity Mirrored Room—The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away” (2013), opened in September 2015 at The Broad in Los Angeles, California. And with movement restricted throughout the world amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the room has been kept dark since March 13. In an effort to bring the piece to museum-goers wherever they are, The Broad launched an online series where anyone can view the artwork on Instagram.
Footage of “Infinity Mirrored Room—The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away” is matched with musical selections by Los Angeles sound artists. Part of the project called “Infinite Drone,” a new post will be released by @thebroadmuseum account every Monday with sound bites alternating between drone, electronic, ambient, and pop music. The first one, which went live on March 30, is accompanied by Geneva Skeen’s “The Oval Window” (2018)—a stereo drone work featuring recordings of voice and piano music processed through digital and analog technologies. Listening to it while watching a video clip of the Infinity Mirrored Room brings the audience to an otherworldly space of twinkling stars where you can—hopefully—find inner peace despite current events.
"Digitally, you can spend more time with it, and pairing it with music adds to the digital experience," The Broad's museum director of audience engagement Ed Patuto told Artnet News in a report on March 31. The clip runs for a whole 14 minutes, which is a lot longer than the 45-second time limit when you step into the room at The Broad. Still, "the work is meant to be experienced in person," Patuto added.