ARTICLE
Documentary film on Yayoi Kusama to kickstart the Design Film Festival 2019
By Flora / 17 Jun 2019 (Monday)
“Kusama: Infinity” is a documentary on one of the most successful living artists in the world now, Yayoi Kusama. The film will kickstart the Design Film Festival 2019 (DFF2019), which will shine a spotlight on the human side of design. DFF2019 will be held in the second half of 2019 where information on the upcoming films will be released progressively.
You may have seen her brightly-coloured polka dots masterpieces and avant-garde pop-art in various museums and festivals around the world. But her rockstar status didn’t come easy. Kusama had to overcome countless odds to bring her radical artistic vision to the world stage.
Image Credit: Design Film Festival Facebook
For decades, her work pushed boundaries that often alienated her from her peers and those in power in the art world. Kusama was an underdog with everything stacked against her-the trauma of growing up in Japan during World War II, life in a dysfunctional family that discouraged her creative ambitions, sexism and racism in the art establishment, mental illness in a culture where that was a particular shame, and eventually growing old and continuing to pursue and be devoted to her art full time.
Directed by Heather Lenz, the film makes its Singapore premiere, documents how Kusama became one of the biggest artists in the world, following her dizzying trajectory over six decades, probing deep into the artist’s psyche and motivations, offering an intellectually absorbing film that goes beyond a standard biopic.
Rated M18, the film premieres in Singapore on 22nd June, with 2 other screenings on the same day. Get your tickets here.