teamLab: Living Digital Forest and Future Park | teamLab

The seasons co-exist and change gradually across the installation space.
Flowers blossom according to the seasons, and the places where they grow gradually change.

The flowers bud, grow, and blossom before they begin to wither and their petals eventually scatter, repeating the cycle of life and death in perpetuity. If a person stays still, the flowers surrounding them grow and bloom more abundantly than usual, but if people touch or step on the flowers, they shed their petals, wither, and die all at once. Sometimes the flowers cross the boundaries of other works and bloom in other spaces, but scatter or die due to the influence of other works.

The artwork is not a pre-recorded image that is played back; it is created by a computer program that continuously renders the work in real time. The interaction between people and the installation causes continuous change in the artwork, so previous visual states can never be replicated, and will never reoccur. The picture at this moment can never be seen again.

In spring in the Kunisaki Peninsula, there are many cherry blossoms in the mountains and canola blossoms at their base. A visit to this region led teamLab to wonder how much of these flowers were planted by people and how much of them were native to the environment. It was a place of great serenity and contentment. The expansive body of flowers is an ecosystem influenced by human intervention, and the boundary between the work of nature and the work of humans is unclear. Rather than nature and humans being in conflict, a healthy ecosystem is one that includes people. In the past, people understood that they could not grasp nature in its entirety, and that it is not possible to control nature. People lived more closely aligned to the rule of nature, which perhaps created a comfortable natural environment. We believe that these valleys hold faint traces of this premodern relationship with nature that once existed, and we hope to explore a form of human intervention based on the premise that nature cannot be controlled.

Fleeting Flower Series. Everything exists on a fragile continuity of life that knows no boundaries and has continued for a long, long time. The image of a peacock appears in peony flowers that are born and blossom. In time the flowers scatter. At the moment each flower scatters that part of the peacock scatters.

Fleeting Flower Series. Everything exists on a fragile continuity of life that knows no boundaries and has continued for a long, long time. The image of an elephant appears in lotus flowers that are born and blossom. In time the flowers scatter. At the moment each flower scatters that part of the elephant scatters.

This work is to be viewed from a position close to the entrance of the space.
The artwork begins when Crows are Chased and the Chasing Crows are Destined to be Chased as well: Flying Beyond Borders enters the Cosmic Void. When it ends, the crows leave the space.
If you stand at the position close to the entrance, the boundary between the wall and the floor disappears and the real world dissolves, making the lines drawn by the trails of the crows appear three-dimensional. Eventually the body becomes immersed in the world of the artwork, and the boundary between the artwork and viewer dissolves as well.
Flocks of mythical crows (Yatagarasu) rendered in light fly around the space leaving trails in their wake and forming Spatial Calligraphy. The chasing crows are eventually chased themselves, and form flowers when they crash into each other, scattering their petals. Although the crows usually avoid crashing into people in the space, when they happen to do so, they similarly form flowers, scattering their petals.

In the background, cherry blossoms bloom and scatter, the cycle of life repeats. From the center of the background a circle is born which increases in size with a constant rhythm. Depending on the circle the light and darkness of the background world changes.

All the various fish drawn by everyone swim around in this aquarium.

Color in a fish on the paper provided, and see the picture you have drawn come to life, swimming out into the massive aquarium in front of you together with the fish drawn by other people. If you touch the swimming fish, they will swim away. You can also feed the fish by touching the food bags.

This is a table where little people live.
If you put something, such as your hand, on top of the table, the little people will jump on to it. Depending on the shape of the objects you place on the table, the little people will slide, jump, or climb. Place many objects on the table and the little people will play with delight.

This is a game of hopscotch where you hop on the circles, triangles, and squares in the water.

When you land on the same shape several times in a row, a fish, butterfly, or bird is born. If you jump on many of the same shapes in a row, even more animals will appear.

And, if you consecutively jump on the same-colored shapes, that color will spread throughout the space.

If you touch the fish, butterflies, or birds that move along the walls, the animals will dissolve into the world.