Narcissus Garden

The original installation dates back to 1966 and the 33rd Venice Art Biennale, when the artist placed 1,500 silver plastic globes in the Giardini outside the Italian Pavilion. Selling them to passersby for $2 each, Narcissus Garden embodied performance art as well as landscape art. The installation has seen further iterations subsequent to the Biennale – Inhotim in Brazil and Central Park in New York, to name two – in each case made of stainless steel rather than plastic.

The installation at the 49-acre Glass House consists of 1,300 steel spheres floating in the newly restored pond next to the Pond Pavilion (1962) and down the hill from the property's namesake building (1949). Although lacking the performance aspect of the original, the placement of the spheres on the pond will add some kinetics, as the orbs move with the wind and the pond's currents.

Narcissus Garden will be on display until from 1 May to 30 November 2016, accompanied by Kusama's recently created enormous steel PUMPKIN near the Brick House (1949). In September, the artist will install a verision of one of her famous "Infinity Rooms" by covering the Glass House's glass surfaces entirely in polka dots. All of the Kusama installations have been organized by Glass House curator Irene Shum.