Specular Space Expansion: Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms Through Hermann Schmitz’s Atmospheres

Abstract

Since the debut of her first infinite room, "Floor Show," in 1965, Yayoi Kusama has used specular space to extend light, shapes, and the viewer's presence, leaving a sense that the perceptual field is transformed. This article analyses Kusama's infinite rooms within the framework of the concrete phenomenon of Atmospheres, developed by the German philosopher Hermann Schmitz. The concept is explored within the emotional space as part of the theory of perception, presented in Schmitz's monograph titled "The Sphere of Emotion" [Der Gefühlsraum], wherein feelings are located in atmospheres. First is describe it the difference between the concept of bodies - Körpe and Leib - as the atmosphere of feelings needs to be reviewed from the felt body (Leib), secondly we examine Yayoi Kusama's statement of self-obliteration, as she proclaimed with her work "Forget yourself, become part of the environment" and relate it to the felt body, reviewing two of Kusama's rooms, Souls of Millions of Light Years Away and Let's Survive Forever showing that the infinite rooms as atmospheric spaces allow the visitor to reflect on what is perceived as the perceptual field is transformed and implies a re-evaluation of the experience of the body.



Author Information
Melissa Gallego Quiroz, Shanghai University, China

Paper Information
Conference: ACAH2024
Stream: Aesthetics

This paper is part of the ACAH2024 Conference Proceedings (View)
Full Paper
View / Download the full paper in a new tab/window


To cite this article:
Quiroz M. (2024) Specular Space Expansion: Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms Through Hermann Schmitz’s Atmospheres ISSN: 2186-229X – The Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities 2024 Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 647-654) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-229X.2024.57
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-229X.2024.57


Virtual Presentation


Comments & Feedback

Place a comment using your LinkedIn profile

Comments

Share on activity feed

Powered by WP LinkPress

Share this Research

Posted by James Alexander Gordon