By Siena Giljum
BU News Service
“Love is Calling” opened at the ICA in fall 2019. Photo by Siena Giljum / BU News Service 
Yayoi Kusama’s “Love is Calling” (2013) is on view at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art through February 2021. Photo by Siena Giljum / BU News Service 
Polka-dotted tendrils create a seemingly infinite and surreal wonderland at Yayoi Kusama’s “Love is Calling.” Photo by Siena Giljum / BU News Service 
The inflatable objects are covered in polka dots, one of the most iconic traits of Kusama’s art. Photo by Siena Giljum / BU News Service 
Visitor assistants at the ICA take guests with timed tickets to “Love is Calling” in small groups, closing the door behind them and allowing visitors to take photos and observe for a few minutes. Photo by Siena Giljum / BU News Service 
An accompanying exhibit entitled “Beyond Infinity: Contemporary Art after Kusama” includes several of Kusama’s paintings and photographs as well as those of artists in the same style and time period. Photo by Siena Giljum / BU News Service 
Nearly all of Kusama’s artwork includes her famous polka dots, which she says are influenced by hallucinations she had during her childhood in Japan. Photo by Siena Giljum / BU News Service
“Love is Calling” doesn’t look like much at first. Reaching only about half the height of the high gallery ceilings, a plain white trailer-looking object sits toward the back of the room. But head inside, and it is anything but plain.
Yayoi Kusama’s immersive exhibit arrived at the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art in fall 2019. “Love is Calling” is one of the Infinity Light Rooms, which have gained the 90-year-old Japanese visual artist international acclaim, with installations across North America, Australia, and Europe.
Each of Kusama’s rooms brings together light, mirrors, and oftentimes added elements like shallow pools of water or, in the case of “Love is Calling,” a voiceover of a poem written and narrated by the artist.
In this 2013 piece, Kusama draws the viewer into an infinite world of surreal color and form, invoking a childlike whimsy and a craving to explore.
“Love is Calling” premiered at the Institute of Contemporary Art September 24, 2019 and will be featured until February 7, 2021.
