Displaying items by tag: museo tamayo

The Central and South American version of Yayoi Kusama's retrospective "Infinite Obsession" ended triumphantly in Mexico City last weekend, after a whirlwind tour, which took it from Rio to Brasilia and São Paulo (see South America Goes Dotty for Kusama). An estimated 2.5 million people visited the exhibition. To cope with the demand, Mexico City's Museo Tamayo stayed open for 36 hours straight during the last two days.

According to the "Art Newspaper," the 800 remaining tickets sold instantly, and Kusamaniacs pitched tents outside the museum in a desperate attempt to get in. A staggering 10,000 people made it to the show in the last weekend, with some visitors getting in only minutes before 10 pm on Sunday evening.

Officials at the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City always knew its Yayoi Kusama exhibition, which ends on January 18, 2015, would be popular. “Infinite Obsession,” based on the 2012 retrospective organized by the Whitney Museum in New York and Tate Modern in London, drew large crowds as it traveled through Argentina and Brazil this year. However, the numbers of visitors for its final stop in Mexico has surpassed all expectations, and the museum has been struggling to keep up.

The Tamayo’s attendance has gone from an average of 5,000 visitors per month to around 2,100 visitors per day. “It has been a challenge,” the museum’s chief of security Alfredo Esoíndola Vélez told the newspaper "El Universal."