Bringing Infinity to Toronto
After sold-out exhibitions in Washington, D.C., Seattle and Los Angeles, Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors touched down in spring 2018 at the Art Gallery of Ontario, for its only Canadian stop. Over 169,000 visitors experienced the exhibition at the AGO, including 4,000 students and teachers. People lined up around the block for a chance to receive same day tickets and on the final day to book advance tickets, over 72,000 people were in line — prompting Maclean’s magazine to call the exhibition “the hottest ticket in town.”
Visitors in Infinity Mirror Room—Phalli’s Field, during the exhibition.
This year the AGO was given the rare opportunity to purchase an Infinity Mirror Room of its own. No other Canadian public art museum owns a Kusama Infinity Mirror Room. The AGO is devoted to bringing the world’s best art to the AGO, and Kusama is one of the world's leading contemporary artists.
As a charity, the AGO relies on the generosity of donors to acquire new artworks that will help build the AGO’s Collection to be enjoyed today and for generations to come. That’s why we asked the public to help bring a Kusama Infinity Mirror Room to Toronto… for infinity so today’s art lovers and future generations can enjoy this mesmerizing work. The #InfinityAGO crowdfunding campaign helped raise funds for a remarkable work of art, engaged new doors and raised awareness that as a charity, the AGO relies on donations to acquire new works of art.
Infinity and Beyond
The artwork cost $2 million CAD. Before the #InfinityAGO campaign began, the AGO secured $1 million towards the purchase of the Infinity Mirror Room from the David Yuile & Mary Elizabeth Hodgson Fund held in The AGO Foundation.
In preparation for our campaign, we researched or spoke with other museums and organizations who had used crowdfunding across North America and Europe. Their generous discussions about lessons learned helped inform our own marketing and communications strategies as well as developing rewards for various donation levels.
Visitors in Infinity Mirror Room—Phalli’s Field, during the exhibition.
In addition, we spoke with crowdfunding platforms. One issue that arose was the service fees charged by the platforms. We stood to lose tens of thousands of dollars for using Kickstarter or its competitors. To further complicate the matter, many platforms had a “raise it all or get nothing” clause. To overcome these issues, we designed and built our own crowdfunding solution using existing tools and code, some of which was borrowed from the Seattle Art Museum and their Infinity Mirrors exhibition page. In doing so, we were able to create internal efficiencies, save money and be nimble in making changes to the site as the campaign progressed.
The creative concept for the page was based on a previous campaign by the AGO. Back in 1958, the Art Gallery of Toronto (an earlier name for the AGO) showcased a new purchase, Jacopo Tintoretto’s Christ Washing the Disciples’ Feet. In order to afford the purchase, we hung a reproduction of the painting, covered with one-by-one inch squares of white paper, which were sold to supporters, visitors and members of the public for $10 each. As donations came in, squares were removed to reveal the reproduction. Once all the squares were purchased, the museum had officially raised enough money to buy the painting.
Our modern spin on the campaign included a photo of the Infinity Mirror Room on a webpage, hidden by the artist’s signature dots. As we reached key milestones in the campaign, we revealed sections of the Infinity Mirror Room. In addition to revealing the image as milestones were reached, as a reward to donors, we shared a version of the image that revealed more of the room than the one showed to general public on the main page of the campaign. This enhanced reveal photo was featured on a page with Kusama’s signature dots floating (borrowed from the Seattle Art Museum) with a big thank you message that pulled the donor’s name from the donation form.
The donation form was built using Wufoo, a software as a service form builder that powers all of our website’s online forms. Working with Wufoo, we were able to connect directly with our payment processing provider, Chase, eliminating any third-party processing fees.
Internally, we created a process for sending the information captured from Wufoo to Raiser’s Edge, our fundraising software, and developed a system for sending automated electronic tax receipts. The impact of this internal efficiency will save hundreds of man hours a year and allow us to better use our resource to achieve our institutional goals.
Reaching Infinity
The #InfinityAGO crowdfunding campaign ran for a total of 34 days and raised $651,233 from over 4,700 donors. This is the biggest amount ever raised via online crowdfunding by a Canadian public art institution. The outpouring of support was inspiring and reinforced that this extraordinary artwork belongs in the AGO Collection. Recognizing the importance of this work, we reached back into the Hodgson Fund – a fund dedicated to art acquisitions – to complete the campaign. The Hodgson Fund is an endowment fund that has grown significantly since it was established in 2005. As a result, we did not need to touch the fund’s capital for the purpose of acquiring the Infinity Mirror Room.
The marketing campaign that supported the program reached shy of 5 million people and the campaign website converted 6.2% of visitors to give. The average gift amount was $95 and new donors made up 48% of the total number of donations to the campaign, contributing close to $200,000. Active members gave nearly $300,000 and had 3% conversion rate.
Yayoi Kusama
INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM - LET'S SURVIVE FOREVER, 2017
Wood, metal, glass mirrors, LED lighting system, monofilament, stainless steel balls, and carpet
123 x 246 x 245 1/4 inches/312.4 x 624.8 x 622.9 cm
© YAYOI KUSAMA
Courtesy David Zwirner, New York; Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore/Shanghai; Victoria Miro, London/Venice
Maris Hutchinson / EPW Studio
Our earned media campaign garnered over 50 different news clippings, including in local, national and international news outlets. Key media moments including the campaign’s launch, Giving Tuesday, and the release of the name of which Infinity Mirror Room the AGO was purchasing.
With the goal reached, the AGO has acquired Yayoi Kusama’s stunning artwork, INFINITY MIRROR ROOM – LET’S SURVIVE FOREVER. The artwork is being constructed and will be delivered to the AGO in early 2019. Those who donated will see it first. Members and the general public – will be invited to see it after the donors’ viewing period has ended. The artwork will be part of General Admission.