‘Chromatic Obliteration’ pays homage to the work of renowned pop artist Yayoi Kusama. Motifs she used throughout her career have been adapted and combined to create an interactive installation that reflects on themes of art, nature, technology, light, colour, life, and chaos.

Guests are free to walk through the ‘garden’ of 3D-printed, illuminated pumpkins, where they are invited to apply translucent coloured dots to the glowing vegetables. Pumpkins were chosen because they are a key motif throughout Kusama’s work, where she uses them as reflections of her childhood.

The installation is highly interactive, with visitors having ultimate control over its final appearance. This was an intentional exploration of the role of the artist, where artistic responsibility has been shifted from Kusama herself, to our design team, and finally resting on the shoulders of visitors.

The coloured dots have been designed to be cyan, magenta, and yellow. This invites guests to play and experiment with the concept of subtractive colour mixing by overlapping the translucent dots.

The installation is four-dimensional; it transforms over the course of the evening as the volume of dots applied intensifies. First, the pumpkins appear in pure, bright white, then accumulate vibrant CMY colours as dots are applied. They then shift to deeper RGB colours as dots overlap. Finally, as all three coloured dots overlap to create black, the installation darkens and the pumpkins become fully “obliterated”. This transition of colour, saturation, and intensity intentionally reflects life cycles found throughout the natural world.