It's only 7:00 (the reception's announced starting time), but the Malibu compound is already packed with scenesters, celebrities, and friends dressed in black with empty stomachs. Next to Price Club, art openings are the best place to get free grub, and Yamagata's spread doesn't disappoint the early-arrivers. There plates of fresh sushi, slabs of cold cuts, tubs of extra-large grapes, tables of fancy desserts, and a well-stocked bar. Waiters offer hot appetizers and champagne. Other rooms have chips, salsa, and more drinks. While one crowd networks around the gourmet grub, a few investigate the adjacent Laser Pyramid. Inside the Mylar-plated structure, one can see flickering lights bounce from wall to wall like tin foil cooking in the microwave. But this standalone installation, like the similarly desolate Laser Cube, merely serves as a warm-up for the Solar System room. This is where the celebrity photographers lurk.

The wait for the Solar System room is almost as long as the one for drinks, and a few of Yamagata's assistants (he's unsure how many he has) let in a couple people at a time­except for celebrities. I saw Tim Allen step right in. Inside the darkened and mirrored chamber, an illuminated path divides a mass of over 600 spinning mirrored cubes, 7,000 square feet of holographic panels, over 60 laser beams, and over 30,000 watts of strobe lighting. If you focus on certain corners long enough you feel like youčre floating. What possessed Yamagata to make such a room? How much does it cost? What exactly is it supposed to say? "People cannot describe it," says the fast-talking ex-beatnik with a smile. And neither can he. "It's just something I did. I don't know how much it cost. People are moved by it. A couple were once discovered making love in it!"

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