Tickets on sale to ICA members today and general public September 28

(Boston, MA—September 21, 2021) The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) will reopen Yayoi Kusama’s LOVE IS CALLING to the public on October 16, 2021. One of the most beloved and popular works in the ICA’s collection, LOVE IS CALLING is among the most immersive of the artist’s existing Infinity Mirror Rooms. It will be featured as a cornerstone of the exhibition The Worlds We Make: Selections from the ICA Collection, on view through December 31, 2022. Advance timed tickets are required and can be reserved at icaboston.org/tickets. Tickets are limited and are on sale now for ICA members. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on September 28.

“We are so happy to be able to offer audiences the ability to experience this beloved artwork from our collection and once again share Kusama’s universal message of love and human connection,” said Jill Medvedow, the ICA’s Ellen Matilda Poss Director.

A mirrored landscape, sculptural environment, and unique experience, LOVE IS CALLING immerses visitors within Kusama’s groundbreaking visualization of infinity, a concept the artist understands as the potential for dissolving one’s place in the universe to become connected to others—remaking the world we know through the invitation to dream another.

LOVE IS CALLING illustrates a central idea within the exhibition The Worlds We Make: Selections from the ICA Collection. Including works by artists such as Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Jeffrey Gibson, Lorraine O’Grady, Matthew Ritchie, and Yinka Shonibare CBE (RA), the exhibition celebrates the world-making potential of artistic imagination. The Worlds We Make is organized by Anni Pullagura, Curatorial Assistant.

About LOVE IS CALLING

Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929, Matsumoto, Japan) is one of the most recognized and celebrated artists today. In addition to her widely popular Infinity Mirror Rooms, Kusama creates vibrant paintings, works on paper, and sculpture with abstract imagery. LOVE IS CALLING features vividly colored, tentacle-like, inflatable sculptures covered with the artist’s signature polka dots and encased in a dark mirrored room to create an illusion of infinite space. As visitors walk throughout the installation, a sound recording of Kusama reciting a love poem in Japanese plays continuously. Written by the artist, the poem’s title translates to Residing in a Castle of Shed Tears in English. Exploring enduring themes including life and death, the poem poignantly expresses Kusama’s hope to spread a universal message of love through her art. The largest of Kusama’s existing Infinity Mirror Rooms, LOVE IS CALLING is the first one held in the permanent collection of a New England museum.

About the ICA

Since its founding in 1936, the ICA has shared the pleasures of reflection, inspiration, imagination, and provocation that contemporary art offers with its audiences. A museum at the intersection of contemporary art and civic life, the ICA has advanced a bold vision for amplifying the artist’s voice and expanding the museum’s role as educator, incubator, and convener. Its exhibitions, performances, and educational programs provide access to the breadth and diversity of contemporary art, artists, and the creative process, inviting audiences of all ages and backgrounds to participate in the excitement of new art and ideas. The ICA is located at 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston, MA, 02210. The Watershed is located at 256 Marginal Street, East Boston, MA 02128. For more information, call 617-478-3100 or visit our website at icaboston.org. Follow the ICA on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.