Watch Yayoi Kusama's Strange, Psychedelic '60s Masterpiece

Made in the midst of Yayoi Kusama ’s 14-year sojourn in New York City, the 1967 short Kusama’s Self-Obliteration [NSFW] is a prime example of the famed Japanese artist's engagement with 1960s American counterculture, characterized by liberal applications of body paint, clothing-optional Happenings, and efforts to “connect with nature.” Of particular note is the first third of the film—featuring Kusama painting everything from a horse to a tree to a pond with her iconic red and white polka dots—and the final three minutes, where a formerly benign nude dance party devolves into an orgy from your hippie uncle’s worst nightmares, with paint-splattered dancers binding, whipping, and eventually beating each other with weirdly laconic abandon.

With its psychedelic video effects and a bizarre yet strangely fitting soundtrack by C.I.A. Change, Kusama’s Self-Obliteration is both a product of its times and a fascinating venture into the obsessive, sometimes shockingly original mind of its creator.