Earlier on this week I had the amazing opportunity to cut off a major item from my bucket list here in Tokyo – teamLab Borderless Museum. teamLab Borderless Museum is a collection of creatives from various fields uniting in a technological sense in order to expand art (“About teamLab”, n.d.). Founded in 2001, it’s a collaborative group that brings together professionals from various fields of arts and technology together to practice art in digital society. The teamLabs crew consists of architects, engineers, programmers, CG animators, mathematicians, musicians and more.

The success of teamLabs has been undeniable since its opening in 2001, it allows visitors to immerse themselves in a borderless art experience with over 10,000 square meters to wander through (“teamLab Borderless MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM”, n.d.). The Mori Building Digital Art Museum requires the use of 520 computers and 470 projectors to create an experience that stimulates all senses (“Mori Building Digital Art Museum: A Multi-Sensory Experience”, 2019). The museum is called “Borderless” for the reason that art moves around freely (“Mori Building Digital Art Museum: A Multi-Sensory Experience”, 2019). Walking along the hallways there are always some elements of art that flow freely over the walls. In my experience I saw a moving cow/fox hybrid as well as a kangaroo hopping along the wall (as shown in the photos below), it’s an exhibition that has an ‘open’ feel to it where the art is not limited to one area but rather all around you.

The Mori Building Digital Art Museum’s stunning and out of the ordinary art installations make the perfect backdrop for aesthetic shots, two of the most popular installations are the Crystal World and the Forest of Resonating Lamps. The Crystal World is a room full of mirrors with dazzling and colourful LEDs which allow you to change the colour of the lights (through the teamLabs app). Back when kanji (hieroglyphic characters) were carved into the shell of a turtle, bone of a cow or deer, or cast in a piece of bronze ware it had each character contain an entire world within it (“Mori Building Digital Art Museum: A Multi-Sensory Experience”, 2019). That’s similar to crystal world in the sense that a new world is created when a person summons a certain character which unleashes certain colours and patterns. Crystal world allows customers with a high level of user interaction resulting in perpetual change – meaning the space is reborn moment by moment (“Mori Building Digital Art Museum: A Multi-Sensory Experience”, 2019).

The forest of resonating lamps is a magical room which features dozens of stunning brightly coloured lamps surrounded by mirrored walls to create an immersive user experience where there seems to be no limit and the room is never ending. When a person stands still close to a lamp, it’ll shine brightly and emit a colour that resonates with its surrounding lamps. There are also seasonal lights, different from the traditional bright orange lights. The seasonal lights are only displayed during monsoon-summer season where they turn a beautiful shade of blues, purples, and pinks

Besides the crystal world and forest of resonating lamps, there are also other popular displays on at teamLabs. One of the largest displays is the Flower Forest: Lost, Immersed and Reborn. In this room the walls, roof and floor are covered with projected flowers – each with its own intricate design. Touching the flowers make them scatter and wilt, while standing on an empty spot will sprout flowers (Bouwers, 2018). The flower designs will change every so often to introduce a new theme. This room is beautifully intricate with its use of special colour coordinated designs which left me wanting to never leave the space.

teamLabs main belief is that digital domain can expand art, in the sense that digital art can create a new sense of relationship between art and individuals (“Digital Art”, n.d.). Digital technology enables complex details and freedom for change. Before digital art artistic expressions often had to be displayed in a physical form such as a portrait, or a physical painting, etc. However, with the advent of digital technology it allows human expression to become free from these physical constraints, enabling the art to exist independently and evolve freely (“Digital Art”, n.d.).

References

About teamLab. Retrieved 30 July 2019, from https://www.teamlab.art/press/digitalmeetsculture1507

Bouwers, K. (2018). Guide to the Mori Building Digital Art Museum Epson teamLab Borderless. Retrieved 30 July 2019, from https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/art/guide-to-the-mori-building-digital-art-museum-epson-teamlab-borderless

Digital Art. Retrieved 30 July 2019, from https://www.teamlab.art/concept/expandart/

Mori Building Digital Art Museum: A Multi-Sensory Experience. (2019). Retrieved 30 July 2019, from https://tokyocheapo.com/entertainment/mori-building-digital-art-museum-teamlab-borderless/

teamLab Borderless MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM. Retrieved 30 July 2019, from https://borderless.teamlab.art/