RALEIGH, NC.- The North Carolina Museum of Art’s exhibition You Are Here: Light, Color, and Sound Experiences, which ran Saturday, April 7, through Sunday, July 22, 2018, attracted 102,544 visitors from all 100 North Carolina counties and all 50 states, plus Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In addition the NCMA hosted visitors from Great Britain, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, and Canada. You Are Here is the best-attended exhibition of contemporary art in the Museum’s history.

“You Are Here invited visitors to become part of the art, so we are thrilled that so many people literally brought this exhibition to life,” says Museum Director Lawrence J. Wheeler. “It’s clear that immersive art experiences capture viewers’ hearts and minds through video, sound, and light, so we look forward to adding Yayoi Kusama’s LIGHT OF LIFE, one of the most popular works in the exhibition, to our free permanent collection in West Building. We hope visitors feel inspired long after this exhibition is finished.”

This is the fourth NCMA exhibition to reach at least 100,000 visitors, alongside The Worlds of M. C. Escher: Nature, Science, and Imagination from 2015; Rembrandt in America from 2011; and Monet in Normandy from 2006. You Are Here programming, including an opening party and silent disco, 24-hour all-nighter event, and yoga in the galleries, welcomed an additional 6,565 visitors. Events included a 14-day residency with visiting Austrian artist collective OMAi, which held light graffiti workshops, family events, and Night Bright community festivals May 17–25.

“The moment I heard about this exhibition, I knew it would be remarkable, but You Are Here has truly surpassed all our expectations,” said Susi H. Hamilton, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. “Congratulations to the North Carolina Museum of Art and Director Larry Wheeler for bringing such a phenomenal exhibition to North Carolina, and for continuing to highlight the Museum’s status as one of the very best in the country.”

LIGHT OF LIFE, joining the Modern and Contemporary Galleries in the fall, will continue to dazzle visitors. The hexagonal mirrored box features three portholes allowing the viewers to peer into the “infinity room.” The two-minute loop of colorful LED light patterns was one of the most Instagrammed works of art from You Are Here. The reflections of light, along with the faces of those viewing the work, create a playful and unique shared experience.

This fall, the NCMA hosts The Beyond: Georgia O'Keeffe and Contemporary Art and Candida Höfer in Mexico, October 13, 2018, through January 20, 2019. The Beyond showcases some of O’Keeffe’s most important works alongside those of 20 emerging artists selected for their approaches to some of O’Keeffe’s themes, including flowers, still lifes, desert landscapes, and the interplay between realism and abstraction. It is ticketed with Candida Höfer, featuring 25 large-format photographs of magnificent interiors of libraries, convents, theaters, churches, and museums throughout Mexico.