teamLab: Impermanent Flowers Floating in a Continuous Sea | teamLab

PAST EXHIBITION

Nov 11, 2022 - May 07, 2023Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn

PAST EXHIBITION

Nov 11, 2022 - May 07, 2023Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn

teamLab: Impermanent Flowers Floating in a Continuous Sea
All oceans are connected to each other, and so are all the waves of the world.

In classical East Asian art, waves are often expressed using a combination of lines. These waves created by lines allow us to realize that each wave is one part of a larger flow, and conveys life as though the waves are a living entity.

When the waves rise, we can feel a powerful breath of life, as though life is blooming. It seems that each wave has a life of its own. But when the waves collapse and disappear, we realize, with a sense of fragility, that they were a part of the ocean. And that ocean is connected to all of the other oceans. In other words, all of the waves in the world are connected to each other.

The waves seem alive because life is like a rising wave. It is a miraculous phenomenon that continuously emerges from a single, continuous ocean.

The artwork space consists of one continuous and connected wave, with neither beginning nor end. The exterior of this perceived mass is also its interior, and the external and internal are one.

Inside the mass of waves, ever-blossoming flowers continually grow and wither in a repeating and ever-changing cycle of life and death. The waves and flowers do not form a fixed viewpoint, which allows people to move freely around the space. The wall on which the work is projected does not become a boundary between people and the work, and the space filled with flowers is continuous with the space of the people experiencing the work.

The flame artwork duplicates and distributes itself among people, and once the artwork is in the hands of people, it is further actively distributed. The flame will exist on people’s networks, transforming into decentralized, Distributed Art. When the flame exists on a network, it will continue to exist even if the original flame disappears.

Through the experience of transcending the boundaries between the body and the artwork, people redefine their perception of the boundaries between the self and the world, and thereby recognize the continuity between humans and the world.

ARTWORKS

Black Waves: Immersive Mass

All oceans are connected to each other, and so are all the waves in this world.

This artwork has no beginning nor end, it consists of a single, continuous wave.
People who enter the artwork are confronted by this wave mass, and before long, they are drawn in, becoming one with the artwork. They realize that what they perceive as the exterior of the mass is also the interior. The exterior and interior are two sides of the same unified whole, indivisible. They make up a single, seamless existence.

In classical East Asian art, waves are often expressed using a combination of lines. These waves created by lines allow us to realize that each wave is one part of a larger flow, and conveys life as though the waves are a living entity.

When the waves rise, we can feel a powerful breath of life, as though life is blooming. It feels as though each wave has a life of its own. But when the waves collapse and disappear, we realize, with a sense of fragility, that they were a part of the ocean. And that ocean is connected to all of the other oceans. In other words, all of the waves in the world are connected to each other.
The waves seem alive because life is like a rising wave. It is a miraculous phenomenon that continuously emerges from a single, continuous ocean.

The waves are expressed through a continuous body of countless water particles. The interactions of particles are calculated, and then the movement of water is simulated in three-dimensional space. Lines are created along the trajectories of the water particles, and drawn on the surface layer of the three-dimensional waves.
The lines are created with what teamLab refers to as Ultrasubjective Space. In contrast to space that is created through, or cut out by, lenses and perspective, Ultrasubjective Space does not fix the viewer’s viewpoint and in turn frees the body. The wall that the waves are seen on does not become a boundary between the viewer and the artwork, and the artwork space is continuous with the space of the viewer’s body.

Proliferating Immense Life

The flowers repeat the cycle of life and death in perpetuity, continually changing with the flow of time. When people touch them, the flower petals scatter and fall away.

The space of the artwork is created with what teamLab refers to as Ultrasubjective Space. In contrast to spaces that are created through, or in other words cut out by, lenses and perspective, Ultrasubjective Space does not fix the viewer’s viewpoint and in turn frees the body. The wall that the flowers are seen on does not become a boundary between the viewer and the artwork, and the artwork space is continuous with the space of the viewer’s body.

Universe of Fire Particles

The flames of Universe of Fire Particles change shape due to a black absolute presence.

Flames are a phenomenon of light and heat generated by combustion; it is a vaporized substance in a flow, a decomposed substance. It is our sensory experience of seeing what is in between phenomenon and substance.

Lines are drawn in relation to the flow of combusting gas, and the flames are created by the accumulation of those lines in three-dimensions. The lines are then “flattened” using what teamLab considers to be Ultrasubjective Space to represent the flames.

teamLab is exploring the concept of Distributed Art.
If you launch the Distributed Fire smartphone application and approach this artwork, the flame will ignite and you can take the artwork home with you. When you bring that flame close to another person's smartphone, a flame will alight. As you connect the flame, and they connect that flame with someone else, the flame will spread all over the world. The flames that are spread are displayed on the Map of The Flame.

Distributed Art duplicates itself, or a part of an artwork is distributed among people. Then, once in the hands of the people, the artwork is further actively distributed, and also makes copies of itself. The artworks will be distributed and exist on people's networks and become decentralized. When the artwork exists on the network, it continues to exist even if the original disappears.

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Venue Details

teamLab: Impermanent Flowers Floating in a Continuous Sea

Term

Nov 11, 2022 - May 07, 2023

Hours

Tuesday 10:00 - 18:00
Wednesday 10:00 - 18:00
Thursday 10:00 - 20:00
Friday - Sunday 10:00 - 18:00
* Last admissions up to half an hour before the closing time.
* The museum closes 3 hours earlier on: December 23 and February 23

Closed

Mondays and National Holidays

Website

Kumu Art Museum

ACCESS

Address

Kumu Art Museum
Great Hall
A. Weizenbergi 34, 10127 Tallinn

Address in local language:

Kumu kunstimuuseum
Suur saal
Weizenbergi 34 / Valge 1
10127 Tallinn

By Tram

Line no. 1: Kopli – Balti jaam – Hobujaama – Kadriorg
Line no. 3: Tondi – Vabaduse väljak – Hobujaama – Kadriorg
From the final stop, “Kadriorg”, walk to the end of Weizenbergi Street (approx. 10 min)

By Bus

Lines no. 31, 67 and 68: Estonia – Kivisilla – Kumu
Take the stairs near the stop and turn to the right at the top.
Lines no. 1a, 8, 29, 34a, 35, 38, 44 and 51 from the bus terminal at Viru Shopping Centre to the stop “J. Poska”
Line no. 5: Männiku – Vabaduse väljak – Viru – J. Poska
Line no. 39: Veerenni – Autobussijaam – Kumu (next to the museum)

NEWS

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Näitust "teamLab. Hõljuvad õied igavikumeres" on Kumu kunstimuuseumi suures saalis külastanud 64 700 inimest. Kuigi näitus jääb kuni 7. maini avatuks, on see juba ületatud Kumu vahetuvate näituste publikurekord, mida alates 2018. aastast hoidis Michel Sittowi isikunäitus.(Excerpt from the text)

Featured on EESTI EKSPRESS, Nov 27, 2022

Kunst, mis köidab miljoneid: kogu maailmas populaarse teamLabi teosed lõpuks ka Eestis

Kumus meelitab kunstipublikut rahvusvahelise kunstirühmituse teamLab näitus „Hõljuvad õied igavikumeres“. TeamLabi asutajat Toshiyuki Inokot usutleb Kadri Karro. (Excerpt from the text)

ARTIST

teamLab

teamLab (f. 2001) is an international art collective. Their collaborative practice seeks to navigate the confluence of art, science, technology, and the natural world. Through art, the interdisciplinary group of specialists, including artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians, and architects, aims to explore the relationship between the self and the world, and new forms of perception.

In order to understand the world around them, people separate it into independent entities with perceived boundaries between them. teamLab seeks to transcend these boundaries in our perceptions of the world, of the relationship between the self and the world, and of the continuity of time. Everything exists in a long, fragile yet miraculous, borderless continuity.

teamLab exhibitions have been held in cities worldwide, including New York, London, Paris, Singapore, Silicon Valley, Beijing, and Melbourne among others. teamLab museums and large-scale permanent exhibitions include teamLab Borderless and teamLab Planets in Tokyo, teamLab Borderless Shanghai, and teamLab SuperNature Macao, with more to open in cities including Abu Dhabi, Beijing, Hamburg, Jeddah, and Utrecht.

teamLab’s works are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Asia Society Museum, New York; Borusan Contemporary Art Collection, Istanbul; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and Amos Rex, Helsinki. 

teamlab.art

Biographical Documents

teamLab is represented by Pace Gallery, Martin Browne Contemporary and Ikkan Art.