Marking the opening of Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now, on view at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao from June 27 through October 8, the ponds around the Museum greeted the sunrise covered in the characteristic red polka dots from Yayoi Kusama’s work.

This remarkable transformation of the area around the Museum, with over 500 polka dots of different sizes floating in the outdoor ponds, is a tribute to one of the most influential figures of contemporary art and a cultural icon of the 21st century. All summer long, this street marketing installation will entice locals and visitors to the large Kusama exhibition showcased inside the building.

Sustainability is one of the key points in this initiative, which is sponsored by Iberdrola. The 540 polka dots are made with sustainable material and will be recycled into back panels for electrical appliances, thus contributing to the Museum’s objective of reducing the carbon print of all its operations.

The exhibition, organized by M+, Hong Kong, in collaboration with the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao will immerse visitors in the obsessive, singular, avant-garde universe of Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929, Japan) that has evolved and unfolded over the seven decades of her extraordinary artistic career.