Kusama, Museums, and the Experience Economy

Last month, I visited the record-setting, hard-to-get-into Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirrors exhibit at the Hirshhorn Museum here in DC. 

I went, I stood in line, and I selfie-d. 

The exhibit is based on standing for 15-30-second timed sessions in around a half dozen "Infinity Rooms," which are small installation rooms with different designs of lights and mirrors illuminating their interiors, suggesting the feeling of infinity. They're beautiful and evocative. Three or so hours later, though, because of the long lines and limited time in each, I had probably actually experienced them for less than five minutes total. 

This article in the Washington Post today puts into words a lot of what I thought of the exhibit, and raises some really interesting questions about museums and art, as well as the mixed outcome of the so-called "experience economy" in general. 

Regarding the Kusama exhibit in particular, the author makes a great point about how the rushed experience gets in the way of the ultimate objective of the art: 

"Unfortunately, Kusama’s basic aesthetic — her fascination with infinity and repetition and the way these things can obliterate the ego (like being dwarfed by a sea of stars on a cloudless night) — is lost when the time in each room is so rushed. You have barely registered the basic look of the space when there is a knock on the door and it opens, daylight rushes in and you’re on your way to the next one."

He also introduced me to a label for a phenomenon I've definitely noticed of late, which is that many services are geared towards an "Experience Economy," meaning that people, whether they are museum patrons or customers, are "more interested in experiencing things (like travel, art, social gatherings) than buying material objects." I'm sure we've all seen a heap of think pieces in the last few years about the value of prioritizing experiences over material possessions. 

The article's author has something really interesting to say about both the opportunities and problems presented in such an economy for art and museums. By design, museums and art offer an experience, suggesting that museums could be more popular than ever in such a context, but that experience can also be commodified, arguably interrupting the experience. 

On the opportunities for museums in an "experience economy:"

"The Experience Economy also seems to promise a reservoir of fundamentally aesthetic interest in the world — better to enjoy a sunset on the beach or an afternoon at the Kusama exhibit than hoard up useless money in your back account. That seemingly anti-materialistic energy could be diverted into a more prominent social role and perhaps better bottom line for museums. It seems to be an egalitarian system, too, rewarding people for their curiosity, engagement and willingness to wait in line rather than merely for their socioeconomic status."

And the potential pitfalls: 

"And it is something that can be exchanged. Placing the selfie on social media not only substitutes for the experience that didn’t in fact happen, it engages the audience in an economy of images, including exchange, competition and reward (praise, “likes,” retweets). The experience at the core of the Experience Economy is now looking not so different from any other commodity, although it is less tangible."

The more popular and more easily captured for social media an exhibit is, the more likely it would seem that the experience would be compromised, resulting in the exact opposite of what we might hope for for art in an "experience economy." 

What do you think? Can art be popular today without being turned into a commodity? Is social media to blame? What's positive about the experience economy?