One of my biggest dreams is to visit Japan. Besides the beautiful scenery (cue cherry blossom trees), rich culture, unique food, immersive beauty rituals, deep appreciation for cats, and friendly people – I have always had a fascination with Japanese art. Most recently, I’ve been marvelling at one Tokyo-based artist collective in particular: teamLab.
teamLab
teamLab is an international artist collective of 400 ‘ultra technologists’, including artists, designers, engineers, mathematicians and architects based in Japan. Started by Toshiyuki Inoko in 2001, teamLab was created with the goal of transforming the relationship between people and the spaces they occupy, using digital technology.
teamLab
These immersive installations merge the physical and digital worlds. Through the use of light, sound, kinetics and even smell, installations come together as viewers are transported into an immersive sensorial experience and interaction with the ethereal, constructed worlds around them.
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In an interview with Ocula, the founder of teamLab, Toshiyuki Inoko, says:
“We want to show that digital technology can provide a new possibility for art. Videotape appears to be finite but we can transform video work into an endless form using technology. In terms of the works’ relationship with the viewer – viewers can influence the work and vice versa, and this can continue forever. We want people to experience the ‘futuristic something’ which already exists.”
teamLab
teamLab
He goes on to say:
“Digital expression is undervalued compared to art created by using physical materials and we want to change that. We want to free peoples’ mindsets and enable them to feel more optimistic and peaceful.”
teamLab
The goal of these installations is to provoke new, boundless perceptions through which the viewer can explore ‘the relationship between the self and the world.’
In everyday life, to understand our shape in the world and the shapes around us, we separate and divide them into perceived boundaries. It’s just how things go when you’re navigating ‘life’ amongst others doing the same. When you’re dealt a hand of cards, your first instinct is to sort them.
teamLab
teamLab installations provoke moments of transcendence from these boundaries that govern our everyday perceptions. Stepping into an installation room is like stepping into an infinite floral affair; as you walk along, you’re transported through hills of shifting flowers and rays of drizzling light. You step through another door and suddenly you’re in a forest where gods live.
If you’re like me, completely bewildered that installations like this even exist, but also slightly disappointed because you can’t be there in person, there is still more to marvel at. teamLab has got a YouTube page where you can view short videos from current and past installations, which I’ll leave you with:
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Feature Image: teamLab
