Narcissus Garden

Contemplate Sydney's — and your— history, identity and cultural belonging as you wander through Yayoi Kusama's immersive mirror ball installation.
Kosa Monteith
February 23, 2021

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Overview

While we've been checking out art IRL again for some time it's still exciting — and now even more so with Yayoi Kusama gracing us with another of her dazzling installations: Narcissus Garden. The famous mirror balls, which first exhibited at the 1966 Venice Biennale, is taking a tour through three Sydney Living Museums (SLM) locations, showing at Museum of Sydney, Vaucluse House and Elizabeth Bay House (for SLM members only) right up till the end of May. So, you'll have ample opportunity to see it.

Kasuma's piece provokes questions of history, identity, cultural belonging and reflection. So, fittingly, it kicks off SLM's 2021 theme of 'Reflections on Identity.' The work is less in the vein of Kusama's super-popular mirrored infinity rooms and more about inward contemplation. In effect, the mirrored balls reflect the historic and colonial-entrenched spaces in its infinitely recurring maze-like structure.

You can check out Narcissus Garden at Museum of Sydney from February 20–April 18. The museum is open from 10am–5pm every Thursday–Sunday, but as part of its Culture Up Late series you can see it till 8pm on Thursdays throughout February and March.

'Narcissus Garden' at Vaucluse House; James Horan for Sydney Living Museums

The installation then moves to Vaucluse House where it'll be on display from April 24–May 23, with the space open from 10am–4pm Wednesday–Sunday. The work's final exhibition will be at Elizabeth Bay House from late May and will only be available to SLM members.

Admission is $15 and free for SLM members.

For more information, head to the Sydney Living Museums website.

Images: James Horan for Sydney Living Museums

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