In 1965, Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama debuted her infinity mirror concept, using mirrors to reflect her artwork and create the illusion of a never-ending space. The idea has endured over the last six decades; in addition to Kusama's regularly touring exhibitions, brands and event hosts have also latched onto the concept, using mirrored walls, floors, and/or ceilings and repeating shapes to create an endless visual loop.
By leveraging the surreal, infinite nature of these rooms, brands have been able to create memorable experiences that not only stand out in the saturated event landscape, but also can significantly boost social media interaction. Here are some favorite examples we've spotted over the years from brands like Kate Spade New York, Dior Beauty, Microsoft, and Meta.
At last month's Coachella, BDG—the publisher of NYLON—hosted its popular NYLON House event at the private Cavallo Ranch in Palm Springs. The after-hours event, designed and produced by Event Eleven, featured an immersive, technicolor infinity room from global fashion brand Kate Spade New York, where an explosion of florals was set against a rolling spring landscape in a mirrored installation. See more: Coachella 2024: Here's What You Missed From This Year's Coolest Parties and Brand Activations
Photo: Line 8 Photography
Also at Coachella 2024, STEEZY—an online platform for dance enthusiasts—celebrated its partnership with Nike through the STEEZY "House of Reflections," sponsored by Nike Air Max. The activation took the form of a massive shoe box; inside, the immersive experience provided performers and dancers with a colorful, infinity room-like setting for self-expression and content creation.
Photo: Courtesy of STEEZY
During New York Fashion Week in 2021, Dior Beauty revealed its Millefiori Garden pop-up, a retail activation celebrating the new Miss Dior eau de parfum. The five-day experience offered shoppable beauty stations, a Miss Dior cafe serving branded lattes, and more. Bicoastal experiential marketing firm AGENC worked closely with the fashion house to design the sensory experience, which included a custom-designed structure that emulated the shape of the Miss Dior bottle. Renowned floral designer Lewis Miller helped create an infinity flower field mirror room inside the space. See more: See Inside the Dior Beauty Pop-Up That Went Viral During NYFW
Photo: Courtesy of AGENC
At the eighth edition of the international business conference C2 Montréal in 2019, a space called the “Alter Ego” lab asked attendees to break away from how they perceive themselves, with the goal of making bolder decisions. The three-step experience was held in a mirrored, infinity-style space. Attendees were invited to connect with their alternate persona, develop the character’s identity by drawing on the mirror, and finally, embody their new alter ego. See more: 16 Creative Highlights From a Revamped C2 Montréal
Photo: Agnieszka Stalkoper
At VidCon 2022, Meta’s Creator Lounge featured various immersive, 360-degree environments centered on content capture. Designed and produced by MKG, the space included an eye-catching entrance that promoted Reels video capture with changing lights, an LED screen backdrop, and a mirrored floor. See more: VidCon 2022: 35 Clever Ideas for Trade Show Booths and Brand Activations From the Convention's Big Return
Photo: Marissa Joy Photography
On the eve of New York Fashion Week in 2019, a digitally led experiential event celebrated the launch of the new MICHAEL Michael Kors spring 2019 campaign starring Bella Hadid. Spread across multiple exhibit spaces, the event immersed guests in the brand's curated videos, images, and music using Dolby audio and visual technologies. As guests walked in, they entered the "Infinity Space": a 360-projected environment featuring bright, graphic treatments of the Michael Kors charm displayed on an infinite wall of Dolby Vision-enabled televisions. The room alternated a series of logo-laden video images akin to a nightclub for a truly immersive and interactive experience while guests could capture their experiences via Hypno BODY cameras. See more: See Michael Kors's High-Tech Take on the Jet Set
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Michael Kors
Louis Vuitton’s collaboration with Yayoi Kusama herself officially launched in January 2023 and included an immersive pop-up experience. The luxury fashion house took over two spaces in the Meatpacking District and SoHo neighborhoods to invite the city into the artist's trippy, colorful world. In one space, mirrored walls played up the bold, psychedelic design, which included a bevy of 3D mirror balls inspired by Kusama's famous "Infinity Mirrors" art exhibit and book.
Photo: Brad Dickson/Courtesy of Louis Vuitton
The SoHo location also had a psychedelic motif and 3D mirror ball installations inspired by the artist’s exhibit. See more: Louis Vuitton Opens Two Artsy, Polka-Dotted Pop-Ups in NYC
Photo: Courtesy of Louis Vuitton
In 2014, Microsoft brought its "Infinity Room" consumer experience to San Francisco to illustrate the significance of harnessing data. The interior light display was intended to create a sense of infinity and included specially treated mirrors that transformed from providing a reflection to a display screen showing animations. See more: See How One Tech Activation Made Data Look Cool
Photo: Courtesy of Roundhouse
Finance-theme pop-up Stacks House opened in Los Angeles’ Arts District in 2019. The pop-up experience was conceptualized by She Stacks, a company that aims to promote financial independence and close the gap between women and wealth through products, content, and experiences. Produced by Advoc8, the pop-up featured money-theme activations including a colorful infinity room that let visitors see into their financial futures. See more: Can This Pop-Up Museum Make Paying Off Your Debt Fun?
Photo: Courtesy of Stacks House
Working with Gladiator Productions, footwear brand Dr. Martens celebrated its new campaign with a vibrant, photo op-filled activation in Los Angeles in fall 2023. In addition to a unique art installation of 14,000 shoelaces hanging from the ceiling, branded infinity mirrors created a selfie moment. See more: This Pop-Up Had 14,000 Shoelaces Hanging From the Ceiling
Photo: Courtesy of Gladiator Productions
During NBA All-Star Weekend 2018, American Express hosted a free, open-to-the-public pop-up in Los Angeles. The multisensory activation had a number of interactive rooms and installations, including crystal chandeliers crafted from basketball hoops and a gold-painted room displaying 500 safety deposit boxes and valuable Lakers possessions. Another social media-friendly installation was an infinity cube by artist Dave Cicirelli (pictured) that displayed images of shoes, hoops, court lines, and other basketball-theme images. See more: N.B.A. All-Star Weekend 2018: 22 Creative Ways Brands Celebrated Basketball's Best
Photo: Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for American Express
In 2018, Mike’s Hard hosted an Instagram-friendly pop-up in New York. Dubbed “Bright Side,” the space took on a lemon theme meant to evoke happiness. An infinity room filled with lemons created a unique photo op at the activation, which was produced by Geo Events and designed by Havas Formula.
Photo: Photo: Jackie Lee Photo
For its Coachella activation in 2022, Ray-Ban Stories—the brand’s limited-edition collection of smart glasses, created in collaboration with Meta—teamed up with design studio VTProDesign to create the Coachella Sensorium Experience. Built inside an unassuming white slat wall structure, the activation invited guests to put on a pair of Ray-Ban Stories and immerse themselves in a multisensory experience meant to make them feel like celebrities—complete with bright camera flashes, a stage, a giant ball pit, and LED hula hoops. The activation also featured a desert-inspired infinity room (pictured), where guests wove through a futuristic field of cactuses emitting bright lights. See more: Coachella 2022: Peek Inside the Festival's Buzziest Parties & Brand Activations
Photo: VTProDesign
In late 2019, The Dr. Seuss Experience popped up in Toronto, earning buzz as a family-friendly version of Kusama’s “Infinity Mirrors” exhibit. The experience offered parents and educators opportunities for teachable moments using messages from each book. Each room displayed a quote from the books on the walls; in the Lorax room (pictured), for example, “I speak for the trees, I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues" made a reference to the importance of protecting the environment. See more: How a New Dr. Seuss Experience Strikes a Balance Between Interactivity and Instagram-Worthy Settings
Photo: Vito Amati
In January, KIND Snacks hosted a one-day wellness pop-up in Santa Monica, Calif. The faux wellness store aimed to flip the script on how to start the new year by helping consumers shut out the noise and stress surrounding the pressure to “be better” every January. An infinity room-inspired space (pictured) showcased ingredients found in KIND products. See more: How KIND Convinced Consumers to Break Their New Year's Resolutions
Photo: KIND Snacks
In January 2020, the Sousa House in New York was transformed into the House of Philosophy for a one-day influencer event and VIP cocktail hour. Event planning and production company Eventique filled the venue with interactive, informational displays showcasing four Philosophy collections, including an illuminated tunnel filled with giant fabricated bubbles that expressed both the new, modern branding and the simple, clean essence of Purity. It led to an infinity mirror (pictured) that again was meant to reflect the simplicity of the collection. See more: How This Beauty Brand Transformed a Town House for Its Influencer Event
Photo: Jean-Pierre Uys Photography
Vancouver-based Go2 Productions used projection mapping to create a 360-degree, immersive audiovisual experience at Metropolis at Metrotown, British Columbia’s largest mall, in 2016. Projected content, colorful 3D illusions, and a mirrored floor and ceiling created a striking, infinity room-like experience for attendees. Click here to watch a video.
Photo: Courtesy of Go2 Productions
