For “Infinite Accumulation,” her largest permanent sculpture to date, Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama has created a series of connected metal spheres at the entrance to the Elizabeth Line at London’s Liverpool Street Station.
Reflective spheres were placed along a curved, winding structure to form the installation “Infinite Accumulation”, which is approximately 100 metres long and rises 10 metres above the public space.
It is Kusama’s largest permanent sculpture and her first permanent public artwork in the United Kingdom.
The meandering sculpture was placed outside Liverpool Street Station, the busiest railway station in the UK, and is intended to reflect the rapid flow of people moving through the space.
“London is a huge metropolis where people of all cultures are constantly on the move,” said Kusama.
“The spheres symbolize unique personalities, while the supporting curved lines allow us to imagine an underlying social structure.”
“This dynamic, highly reflective architectural form, which mirrors the viewer and the world around them, means that Infinite Accumulation responds to both individual and collective experiences in the changing spaces of London’s urban landscape,” added Transport for London (TfL).
Kusama is best known for her use of dots in her artwork, which includes installations, sculptures, performance art, fashion, painting and video.
For “Infinite Accumulation” she adapted her signature motif into a three-dimensional sculpture that is intended to complement the surrounding architecture.
“For this monumental site-specific work, Kusama has expanded the dots into connected forms that interact with and define the public spaces in front of the new Elizabeth Line entrance to Liverpool Street Station,” TfL said.
“These dynamic serpentine arches were created intuitively by Kusama by hand twisting the wires of the original models for the artwork.”
The polished, reflective surface of Infinite Accumulation is designed to reflect the viewer and their cityscape.
“This artwork will give millions of people the opportunity to experience Kusama’s dynamic and rhythmic sculpture, which reflects the evolving city around it,” added Eleanor Pinfield, Head of Art on the Underground at TfL.
Funded by property developer British Land and government agency City of London Corporation, Infinite Accumulation is the latest design unveiled as part of the Crossrail Art Programme, which will see artwork installed at seven stations on the Elizabeth Line.
The Elizabeth Line railway, designed by Grimshaw, Maynard, Equation and Atkins, was recently announced as one of the shortlisted projects for this year’s Stirling Prize.
Kusama’s other projects include polka dot-wrapped trees at the New York Botanical Garden and a collaborative capsule collection with Louis Vuitton.
The photographs are by Thierry Bal.
