MoMA PS1 PRESENTS ROCKAWAY! 2018 FEATURING SITE-SPECIFIC

INSTALLATION OF NARCISSUS GARDEN BY YAYOI KUSAMA

July 1–September 3, 2018

Friday–Sunday and holidays, 12–6 p.m.

Gateway National Recreation Area at Fort Tilden, New York

#RockawayKusama

LONG ISLAND CITY, New York, June 18, 2018— This summer, MoMA PS1 will

present Yayoi Kusama’s (Japan, b. 1929) site-specific installation of Narcissus

Garden (1966–present) as the third iteration of Rockaway!, a free public art festival

presented with Rockaway Artists Alliance, Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks

Conservancy, National Park Service, and Bloomberg Philanthropies. Narcissus

Garden will be on view from July 1 through September 3, 2018 at the Gateway

National Recreation Area at Fort Tilden.

Comprised of 1,500 mirrored stainless steel spheres, Narcissus Garden will be on

view in a former train garage from the time when Fort Tilden was an active U.S.

military base. The mirrored metal surfaces will reflect the industrial surroundings of

the now-abandoned building, drawing attention to Fort Tilden’s history as well as the

devastating damage inflicted on many buildings in the area by Hurricane Sandy in

2012.

Narcissus Garden was first presented in 1966 when Kusama staged an unofficial

installation and performance at the 33rd Venice Biennale. The silver spheres,

originally made from plastic, were installed on the lawn in front of the Italian Pavilion,

reflecting the landscape of the exhibition grounds. Kusama herself stood among

them, barefoot and dressed in a gold kimono, alongside yard signs inscribed with the

words “Narcissus Garden, Kusama” and “Your Narcissism for Sale.” Throughout the

opening day of the exhibition, Kusama remained in the installation, tossing the

spheres in the air and offering to sell them to visitors for 1200 lire (approximately $2)

each. The action, which was viewed both as self-promotion and a critique on the

commercialization of contemporary art, would later be seen as a pivotal moment in

Kusama’s career as she transitioned from installation towards the radical and

politically charged public performances that would be the focus of her work in the

late 1960s in New York City.

The performances that followed the first presentation of Narcissus Garden became

increasingly more elaborate and regularly involved multiple participants. Kusama

often staged these happenings in or near New York City parks and cultural landmarks,

including Body Festiv Park, Love In Festival (1968) and Bust Out Happening (1969) in Central Park, and

Grand Orgy to Awaken the Dead (1968) in the sculpture garden of The Museum of

Modern Art. Iterations of Narcissus Garden have since been presented worldwide.

Klaus Biesenbach, Director, MoMA PS1 and Chief Curator-at-Large, Museum of

Modern Art, said “six years after Hurricane Sandy ravaged the Rockaways, the

vulnerable area is still fighting for rebuilding and resilience. Recently, eleven blocks of

one of the most popular beaches in Rockaway Park were closed due to erosion

following a heavy storm in March.” Biesenbach added, "To continue to raise

awareness of the ongoing restoration work and efforts to ensure the Rockaways are

prepared for future effects of climate change, the collaboration between Bloomberg

Philanthropies, National Park Service, Jamaica Bay Rockaway Beach Conservancy,

Rockaway Artists Alliance, and MoMA PS1 continues with a third iteration of

Rockaway! created in close collaboration with Yayoi Kusama, evoking her youthful,

courageous, and adventurous spirit with a work she first exhibited as an emerging

artist, like many of the artists who live and work in the Rockaways right now."

Thomas Secunda, Co-Founder of Bloomberg LP and Chair of the Jamaica BayRockaway

Parks Conservancy, added, “The Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks

Conservancy is proud to partner once again with MoMA PS1, Rockaway Artists

Alliance, and National Park Service on this newest Rockaway! public art installation

featuring the work of prolific artist, Yayoi Kusama. We are honored and extend our

appreciation to Yayoi Kusama for exhibiting Narcissus Garden in Fort Tilden.

Narcissus Garden will reflect the beauty of Fort Tilden and draw attention to the

industrial history and urban natural environment that makes up Gateway National

Recreation Area. Special thanks to Klaus Biesenbach, Joshua Laird, John Simonelli,

and their dedicated teams for helping to make this possible.”

The installation of Narcissus Garden will be accompanied by an exhibition in the

neighboring Rockaway Artists Alliance sTudio 7 Gallery that charts the history of

Rockaway! and the ongoing work of the Rockaway Artists Alliance.

Rockaway! is a celebration of the ongoing recovery of the Rockaway Peninsula

following the devastating impact of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, organized in

collaboration with the Rockaway Artists Alliance, Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks

Conservancy, National Park Service. Rockaway! 2018 is a continuation of MoMA

PS1’s ongoing collaborative programming alongside the Rockaway Artists Alliance

that began with collaborating on rescue efforts immediately following Hurricane

Sandy in 2012 and continued with the VW Dome 2 in 2013; Rockaway! in summer

2014, which featured solo projects by Patti Smith, Adrián Villar Rojas, and Janet

Cardiff as well as a group show at the Rockaway Beach Surf Club; and the second

iteration of Rockaway! in 2016, featuring a site-specific outdoor installation by

Katharina Grosse.

Rockaway! is made possible through the generous support of Bloomberg

Philanthropies and The Secunda Family Foundation.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Yayoi Kusama's work has transcended two of the most important art movements of

the second half of the twentieth century: pop and minimalism. Her highly influential

career spans paintings, performances, room-size presentations, outdoor sculptural

installations, literary works, films, fashion, design, and interventions within existing

architectural structures, which allude at once to microscopic and macroscopic

universes.

Major touring surveys include those organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of

Art and The Museum of Modern Art, New York (1998); Le Consortium, Dijon, France

(2000); National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (2004); and the Museum Boijmans

Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2008). Her work was the subject of a large-scale and

well-received retrospective, which traveled from 2011 to 2012 to the Museo

Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Tate

Modern, London; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. From 2012

through 2015, three major museum solo presentations of the artist’s work, Eternity

of Eternal Eternity, A Dream I Dreamed, and Infinite Obsession simultaneously

traveled to major museums throughout Japan, Asia, and Central and South America—

all of which drew record-breaking attendances. In 2015, the Louisiana Museum of

Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark organized a comprehensive overview of

Kusama’s practice, including works that span the full length of her career. The show

traveled to Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, Norway; Moderna Museet,

Stockholm; and Helsinki Art Museum. In 2017, The National Art Center in Tokyo

hosted My Eternal Soul, a solo exhibition featuring over 130 paintings from the

artist’s series of the same title, which she began in 2009, as well as works that span

her entire career. Currently on view at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

in Nusantara (Museum MACAN), Jakarta is Yayoi Kusama: Life is the Heart of the

Rainbow (through September 9, 2018), which is organized by the National Gallery of

Singapore and Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia,

where it was previously on view. Opening at The Cleveland Museum of Art in July

2018 and at High Museum of Art, Atlanta in 2019 will be Yayoi Kusama: Infinity

Mirrors, a major survey of the artist’s work that was first on view at the Hirshhorn

Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, followed by the Seattle Art

Museum, The Broad, Los Angeles, and the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.

MoMA PS1

MoMA PS1 is devoted to today’s most experimental, thought-provoking

contemporary art. Founded in 1976 as the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, it was the

first nonprofit arts center in the United States devoted solely to contemporary art

and is recognized as a defining force in the alternative space movement. In 2000 The

Museum of Modern Art and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center merged, creating the

largest platform for contemporary art in the country and one of the largest in the 

world. 

Functioning as a living, active meeting place for the general public, MoMA PS1

is a catalyst for ideas, discourses, and new trends in contemporary art.

ROCKAWAY ARTISTS ALLIANCE

Since 1995 Rockaway Artists Alliance (RAA) has brought innovative art exhibitions,

cultural events, and high-quality art education programs to the Rockaway peninsula.

RAA’s facilities—sTudio 6, sTudio 7, and Building T-149—are nestled between the

Atlantic Ocean and Jamaica Bay in Gateway National Recreation Area’s historic Fort

Tilden. RAA brings children, adults, and seniors to the Fort for interactive programs—

like Rockaway!—lectures, demonstrations, and musical performances.

JAMAICA BAY-ROCKAWAY PARKS CONSERVANCY

The Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy (JBRPC) is a public-private

partnership established in 2013 that is dedicated to improving the 10,000 acres of

public parkland throughout Jamaica Bay and the Rockaway Peninsula for local

residents and visitors alike. With its partners at the National Park Service and the New

York City Department of Parks & Recreation, JBRPC works to expand public access;

increase recreational and educational opportunities; foster citizen stewardship and

volunteerism; preserve and restore natural areas, including wetland and wildlife

habitat; enhance cultural resources; and ensure the long-term sustainability of the

parklands, including the development of the Science and Resilience Institute.

THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

The National Park Service (NPS) operates more than 400 parks and historic sites

nationwide, including Gateway National Recreation Area—which contains Fort

Tilden—established in 1972 as America’s first urban national park. In 2012, NPS and

the City of New York forged an unprecedented partnership to restore and revitalize

10,000 acres of unique parklands surrounding Jamaica Bay. Rockaway!, a direct

outgrowth of that collaboration, seeks to attract and engage new visitors to these

amazing waterfront parks.