Kids invited to participate in free NGV artwork The Obliteration Room

World-renowned artist Yayoi Kusama is inviting visitors to leave their own mark on a colourful piece of her art that families can visit for free at the NGV. SEE THE VIDEO

Looking for a free activity for the kids? This will hit the spot.

NGV exhibition Kusama for Kids: The Obliteration Room encourages children to do something their parents would normally frown upon: put stickers all over the walls, floors and furniture.

The space created by polka-dot princess Yayoi Kusama began as a totally white “house” filled with white furniture. Visitors were then invited to stick brightly coloured dots on any surface they liked – and they can continue to do so until the exhibition closes on April 21.

Kusama calls this process obliteration: the complete destruction of every trace of something.

Tiffany, 6 inside Kusama for Kids: The Obliteration Room, which invites children to put colourful stickers all over the white walls and furniture. Picture: Jason Edwards

“We’re seeing lots of happy children arrive and get this great surprise – they’re saying, ‘It looks like hundreds and thousands or chocolate freckles’,” NGV curator of children’s programs Kate Ryan said.

“We’ve had thousands of people dot every surface and it’s transforming these stark white spaces – a kitchen, dining room, living room, playroom and a study – into a burst of colour. They’re making something together.

“It’s changing everyday. It would be great for the children who visited in those early days, in December, to come back and see the change.”

Yayoi Kusama created The Obliteration Room for Australian children in 2002. Picture: N Harth, QAGOMA. Supplied by: NGV

Ms Ryan said Kusama created The Obliteration Room for Australian children in 2002 and it has since been displayed “all over the world”.

She said the artist had encouraged people to participate in her art throughout her eight-decade career.

Another interactive space at the NGV titled Flower Obsession – part of a ticketed exhibition showcasing 200 further Kusama artworks across the gallery’s ground floor – asks attendees to place flower stickers on every surface of an apartment.

These works stemmed from hallucinations the now-95 year old had as a child, where she would see things like “a tablecloth covered in flowers” and “a veil of dots”, Ms Ryan said.

Tennis player Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova visited Flower Obsession while in Melbourne for the Australian Open. Picture: Instagram.

Polka-dots are an enduring motif for Kusama. Picture: Steve Eichner/WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images

She added that it was “joyful” to see “families enjoying making art together in The Obliteration Room, and across other NGV programming for children including NGV Kids On Tour. This program is taking free school holiday art activities inspired by summer exhibitions Yayoi Kusama and Cats and Dogs to 150 venues statewide throughout January.

“The fact these are free takes the pressure off families at a time when cost of living is high,” Ms Ryan said.

ngv.vic.gov.au