The WNDR Museum opened in an industrial building in Chicago in 2018 with a mission to showcase multi-sensory, immersive and interactive art. Recently, the museum installed The obsession with points (1997) by the prolific Yayoi Kusama in its 45-foot-tall atrium, promising to feature a three-story Infinity Mirror Room of bright black and yellow floating polka dots. It opens to the public on May 12.
“The large size of The obsession with points got us most excited,” says WNDR Creative Director David Allen. “This piece plays with scale. As large as it is, a viewer can also peek into a small version of infinity. The process involves carefully arranging the points in our specific space, considering the relationship between each dimensional point, the whole environment, and the viewer’s experience. During the installation, he said, two members of the Kusama team came from Japan and gave their blessing.
Unfortunately, the giant space isn’t activated to Kusama’s full glory. Giant yellow inflatable balls with black polka dots hover at varying heights above the space (which is shared with the museum’s gift shop) like funky, oversized department store party decorations. An open stairwell in the corner leads to a balcony and a bar. There East a small mirror room, however, located inside a yellow orb that visitors can enter for their 60-second experience (per Kusama’s instructions).
Yayoi Kusama, The obsession with points1997 WNDR Museum
The other from WNDR Infinity Mirror Room by nonagenarian Japanese artist, Let’s survive forever (2017), visible from the museum’s opening, is on its way to the museum’s new outpost in Boston. “One of the most exciting benefits of the recent expansion of the WNDR museum to San Diego, Seattle and soon Boston is the ability we have to share facilities between different locations,” says Allen.
Although this particular installation was disappointing, there is hope that WNDR will differentiate itself from the countless ‘immersive art‘experiences that are popping up in most cities and provide space for time-based and experiential projects that combine art and technology projects at museum-quality levels, such as Superblue in MiamiPerhaps the true gift of the WNDR is the way it welcomes community and encourages creativity. The organization operates a studio where artists and technicians construct and create new installations and exhibitions.
Yayoi Kusama, Let’s survive forever2017 Kirsten Miccoli
“We have our own exhibitions, but we can also collaborate with artists who want help seeing an idea come to life,” says Allen. One collaboration he said the WNDR team is particularly proud of is the year-long partnership, Creatives of Color, with the new vanguarda Chicago-based collective of artists of color.
Ryan Kunkel, president of WNDR Global, says the organization’s mission is to make art “accessible, accessible and inclusive.” Boston’s WNDR museum is set to open this summer, and Kunkel said the company will continue to explore other markets. He adds, “There is such an urge to experience art in this way, and we really seek to bring WNDR’s unique vision of art and technology to enthusiasts wherever we can.
WNDR was founded by tech investor Brad Keywell, who was one of the co-founders of e-commerce company Groupon. His partner at Groupon was art collector and philanthropist Eric Lefkovsky, a major supporter of Chicago’s cultural institutions.
The WNDR Museum’s Kusama exhibition coincides with an exhibition of new works by the artist at the David Zwirner Gallery in New York (until July 21), which includes a new infinity mirror bedroom.
- Yayoi Kusama: the obsession with pointsopening on May 12, WNDR MuseumChicago
