Death of Nerves is a large-scale installation that provides a mesmerising extension of visionary artist Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Nets motifs into three-dimensional space. Commissioned by M+ and calling to mind a nervous system or the roots of a giant tree, this sewn stuffed fabric work hangs at the Lightwell and drapes down to Found Space on B2. In contrast with the work’s seemingly gloomy title, its vibrant colours symbolise the moment of regeneration. The web-like network evokes the interconnectedness of life and death, exemplifying Kusama’s fascination, spanning her seven-decade long career, with the experience of infinity. The work communicates an important message of hope and rebirth.

Death of Nerves (2022) was one of the three brand-new works by the artist presented in M+’s Special Exhibition Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now, the largest retrospective of Kusama in Asia outside Japan.

Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929, Japan) is one of the most important and influential Asian artists in the history of contemporary art. She is renowned for her prolific and ground-breaking practice, spanning paintings, sculptures, performances, moving images, and large-scale installations. Trained in traditional Japanese painting, she moved to the United States in 1957 and soon established herself in the American and European avant-garde for her unique and radical artistic language. She returned to Japan in 1973 and has relentlessly reinvented and created art that resonates with the time in which she lives.