A stunning new sculpture by Yayoi Kusama has made its debut at the entrance of London’s busiest subway station. This remarkable piece marks the Japanese artist’s first permanent public installation in the UK and stands as the largest public sculpture by Kusama globally.
Titled Infinite Accumulation (2024), this site-specific creation features a series of interconnected, reflective silver spheres that soar over 32 feet in height, stretch 39 feet in width, and extend more than 328 feet in length. On August 7, the sleek and shimmering artwork was revealed at Liverpool station, thanks to the collaboration of Transport for London, British Land, and the City of London Corporation.
“London is a vast metropolis where individuals from diverse cultures are in constant motion. The spheres represent distinct personalities, while the flowing, curvilinear lines invite us to envision an underlying social framework,” noted the artist.
Commissioned in 2017 as part of The Crossrail Art Foundation’s public art initiative, Infinite Accumulation features highly polished, reflective surfaces reminiscent of Kusama’s immersive installation, Narcissus Garden.
“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 Transport for London. “These dynamic serpentine arches were created intuitively by Kusama, hand-twisting the wires on the original models for the artwork.”
“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.
This sculpture is the final piece to be installed and commissioned by the Crossrail Art Programme for the Elizabeth line, the east-west railway in London that opened in May 2022. Other notable artworks commissioned and installed include Douglas Gordon’s looped video undergroundoverheard at Tottenham Court Road station, Chantal Joffe’s paper collage and aluminum piece A Sunday Afternoon in Whitechapel at Whitechapel station, and Conrad Shawcross’s large bronze sculpture Manifold (Major Third) 5:4, unveiled at Moorgate station in 2023.