Visit Yayoi Kusama's obliteration room & be part of its transformation

Tue 5 Aug 2025

The obliteration room 2002–present by renowned Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is an interactive work initially developed by the artist in collaboration with the Gallery in 2002, consisting of a series of domestic-style rooms recreated in the gallery space, complete with locally sourced furniture and ornamentation, all of which are painted completely white. This functions as a blank canvas to be enlivened especially by children buzzing around with stickers in hand, the white rooms gradually covered over the course of the exhibition — or, in Kusama’s vocabulary, ‘obliterated’ — through the application to every available surface of brightly coloured stickers in the shape of dots.

Why dots? When Kusama was young, she started seeing the world through a screen of dots, they covered everything she saw — even her own body. Dots first emerged in Kusama’s work in the 1960s where they appeared in her paintings, sculptures, installations, and people’s bodies. Later, dots developed into an artistic strategy that the artist described as ‘self-obliteration’. Such is the appeal of The obliteration room, particularly on social media, that its popularity has proliferated around the world.

Watch | Our transformation time-lapse

We can’t believe our interactive installation once was pristine white. This series of images shows The obliteration room when the exhibition opened, along with the application of the very first dot stickers.

Enter the world of Yayoi Kusama and help transform The obliteration room 2002-present in 'Wonderstruck' at the Gallery of Modern Art until 6 October 2025 or delve into the captivating works on display with our weekly highlights.

The first dot stickers

We've gone dotty

Immerse yourself in The obliteration room 2002-present

Wonderstruck
28 June – 6 October 2025
Gallery of Modern Art
Gallery 1.1 (The Fairfax Gallery), Gallery 1.2 & Gallery 1.3 (Eric and Marion Taylor Gallery)
Brisbane, Australia
Free entry