For Infinite Accumulation, her largest-ever permanent sculpture, Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama has created a series of connected metallic spheres by the Elizabeth Line entrance of London’s Liverpool Street Station.
Reflective orbs were placed along a curving, twisting structure to form the Infinite Accumulation installation, which is around 100 metres long and rises 10 metres above the public space.
It is the largest permanent sculpture created by Kusama and her first permanent public artwork in the UK.
Installed outside Liverpool Street station, Britain’s busiest station, the meandering sculpture was designed to reflect the rapid flow of people moving through the space.
“London is a massive metropolis with people of all cultures moving constantly,” said Kusama.
“The spheres symbolise unique personalities, while the supporting curvilinear lines allow us to imagine an underpinning social structure.”
“This dynamic, highly reflective architectural form, mirroring the viewer and the world around it, means Infinite Accumulation responds to both individual and collective experience within the changing spaces of the urban landscape of London,” added Transport for London (TfL).
Kusama is widely known for using dots in her artwork, which spans installations, sculptures, performance art, fashion, painting and video.
For Infinite Accumulation, she adapted her signature motif into a three-dimensional sculpture designed to complement the surrounding architecture.
“For this monumental site-specific work, Kusama has expanded the polka dot into linked forms which interact with and define the public spaces outside the new Elizabeth line entrance to Liverpool Street station,” said TfL.
“These dynamic serpentine arches were created intuitively by Kusama, hand-twisting the wires on the original models for the artwork.”
The polished, reflective finish of Infinite Accumulation was designed to mirror observers and their city backdrop.
“With this artwork, millions will enjoy the opportunity to encounter Kusama’s dynamic and rhythmic sculpture, reflecting on the evolving city around them,” 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 to be revealed as part of the Crossrail Art Programme, which has installed artworks at seven Elizabeth Line stations.
Designed by Grimshaw, Maynard, Equation and Atkins, the Elizabeth Line railway was recently announced as one of the shortlisted projects for this year’s Stirling Prize.
Other projects by Kusama include polka-dot-wrapped trees in the New York Botanical Garden and a collaborative capsule collection with Louis Vuitton.
The photography is by Thierry Bal.
