Flutter of Butterflies Beyond Borders in the Crystal World

teamLab, 2018, Installation of Light Sculpture, LED, Endless, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi

Flutter of Butterflies Beyond Borders in the Crystal World

teamLab, 2018, Installation of Light Sculpture, LED, Endless, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi

A flutter of butterflies created from an accumulation of light points.

This work starts when the butterflies from Flutter of Butterflies Beyond Borders enter the Crystal World space. The work ends when the butterflies leave the space and disappear.

Flutter of Butterflies Beyond Borders is a group of butterflies born due to the presence of people, such as those born from people’s bodies in the Butterfly House. These butterflies free art from the notion of frames, transcending the  boundaries of the artwork  as they fly seamlessly through the works.

This installation uses an accumulation of light points to create a sculptural body, similar to the way distinct dots of color form an image in pointillist painting. Here, butterflies depicted by light points fly freely around the space. People are immersed into the flock of butterflies due to a visual illusion created by the butterflies’ continuous dynamic behavior, dissolving the boundary between their bodies and the artwork world. As the shared world of the artwork changes due to the presence of each person in the space, perhaps people will feel a sense of unity as they dissolve into the artwork as one.

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.