How To Get Into Seattle’s Sold-Out Yayoi Kusama Exhibition

Kristen Amiet is a previous AWOL editor, bona fide travel…

Last week, Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrors exhibit opened at the Seattle Art Museum, much to the delight of art-lovers everywhere. But, sadly for those art-lovers who’d failed to secure tickets ahead of time, admission for the much-anticipated showcase sold out long before its doors actually opened.

Infinity Mirrors spans the iconic contemporary artist’s 65-year career and includes the mind-bending installations that made her work some of the world’s most-recognisable contemporary art. There are also drawings, sculptures and paintings on display, along with the visually stunning Obliteration Room.

Yayoi Kusama Obliteration Room — Photo: Seattle Art Museum

Fortunately, if you’re on your way to the Emerald City in the next few months, there is a way in: timed-entry tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis from 10am every day at the museum and cost $45 ($34.95USD) per person. Be prepared to queue (and may the odds be ever in your favour).

If you’re lucky enough to get in the door, prepare to use your time wisely: Visitors are given just 20 seconds to experience each infinity room. The time limit serves both a practical purpose and an artistic one – Kusama designed the experience to be brief (the rooms themselves a very small), and museum staff need a way to keep the inevitably long queues moving.

Yayoi Kusama Infinity Room exterior — Photo: Seattle Art Museum

Rumour has it one of the artist’s iconic glass gourds – valued at around a million bucks ($800,000USD) – was shattered by a rogue selfie-taker at the Washington, DC, Infinity Mirrors exhibit earlier this year. While it was never confirmed by the Hirshhorn Museum that the damage was a result of a selfie gone wrong, we’d recommend keeping your snaps of the photogenic display in check.