teamLab IsLands: Dance! Art Museum, Learn & Play! Interactive Theme 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.

Itō Jakuchū (1716–1800) was an early modern Japanese painter who was active in Kyoto in the mid-Edo period. Jakuchū has left us with a unique style of painting in which the surface is made up of a grid of tens of thousands of squares that are individually colored. Nirvana was inspired by the screen paintings Birds, Animals, and Flowering Plants and Trees, Flowers, Birds and Animals.

Jakuchū’s square paintings remind us of computer-generated pixel art. It has been proposed that Jakuchū’s squares pictures were inspired by industrial production constraints in the designs of Nishijin (traditional high-quality silk fabric that is woven in Nishijin, Kyoto). Pixel art was also born from functional limitations. Those functional limitations no longer exist but pixel art is still a very popular form of expression. This is perhaps why we feel an intuitive digital sense to Jakuchū's square works. The colors of Jakuchū’s work are the result of the optical phenomena of visual mixing of color combinations within the squares. It appears as if Jakuchū understood optical mixing of colors at a time before Impressionism and Pointillism.

This artwork was created in a virtual 3-D space in which 3-D animals move. The space was then converted into what teamLab calls ultrasubjective space. Then,  the color in the 3-D space is split by the color pattern of the squares. For example, if the pattern of a square is colored in red and blue, that part corresponds to purple in the three dimensional space.

The squares of the screen are fixed while the space continues to move, and thus the color inside the squares is on a different time axis to the space. Seen as a whole from a distance, brilliantly shining  colors occur, and the world of plants and animals in the space will move at a slow time axis. When viewed up close, the colors divided by the finely drawn patterns of each square will change on a rapid time axis. Two time axes co-exist in this work.

In addition, parts of the image squares are filled in with the most frequent color in the squares, forming an abstract world. The plants and animals move in space, but are abstracted by the fixed squares on-screen, creating a new visual expression through pixel art.

Created from 12 screens, this illustrated story features a theme of "the clash, cycle, and symbiosis between nature and culture.

The world of the artwork is created in three-dimensional space on the computer, visualizing a ultrasubjective space within 12 perspectives. The surface peels away, and the other side of the work rises to the surface.

Three-dimensional shapes are represented by a computer as abstract, higher-order information described by a mesh construction. When the surfaces of those three-dimensional rendered objects are peeled away, it is apparent that they are created from various combinations of mesh structures. By peeling away the surface, the underside of the work is revealed allowing a glimpse into the creative process behind it.

1: Flower and Corpse Glitch Set of 12 Capital City & Noble
The capital city in all its wondrous glory.

2: Flower and Corpse Glitch Set of 12 Disaster & Prosperity
An evil disease spreads throughout the capital.

3: Flower and Corpse Glitch Set of 12 Mountain People & Festival
Hikaru Genji follows the disease and ends up in a mountain village. To celebrate the blessings of nature, the village holds a festival.

4: Flower and Corpse Glitch Set of 12 Daily Life & Forest
The village festival is over and the village returns to ordinary life. Even under the influence of the disease, the people bravely live on. They receive the benefits of nature, living in abundance and cutting down trees to develop their civilization.

5: Flower and Corpse Glitch Set of 12 The Spirit Tree & Yamata no Orochi
The mountain village is asked to provide large amounts of timber to further develop the city. The villagers cut down a large tree deep within the mountains. When the sacred tree is downed, suddenly, Yamata no Orochi appears from the fallen tree. Yamata no Orochi is furious with rage and causes heavy rain and flooding in the valley.

6: Flower and Corpse Glitch Set of 12 Yamata no Orochi & The Gods of the Forest
Yamata no Orochi knocks down the houses of the mountain village. Following the rampage of Yamata no Orochi, the gods of the forest appear and begin to attack the people.

7: Flower and Corpse Glitch Set of 12 Weapons & Battlefield
The mountain villagers ask samurai to come to the mountain village, and a battle between the warriors, the gods of the forest, and Yamata no Orochi begins.

8: Flower and Corpse Glitch Set of 12 Destruction & Victory
After a fierce battle, the warriors make use of the developments of civilization, such as flaming arrows and swords. Eventually the samurai warriors begin to be victorious.

9: Flower and Corpse Glitch Set of 12 Hunger & Wasteland
After the battle, the burned-out forest is a wasteland. The benefits of nature are lost and the mountain village suffers hunger and despair.

10: Flower and Corpse Glitch Set of 12 Flower & Corpse
Hikaru Genji is surrounded by the dead bodies of the gods of the forest and Yamata no Orochi. Despairing, he spreads seeds over the corpse of Yamata no Orochi. Then, from the dead corpse, buds appear and numerous flowers bloom. The flowers grow over the trees and the forest is gradually restored.

11: Flower and Corpse Glitch Set of 12 Festival & Forest
The people of the mountain begin once again to reap the benefits of the forest and civilization is restored. The people of the village are determined to go on and live in harmony with the forest and the festival is once again held.

12: Flower and Corpse Glitch Set of 12 City & Festival
The evil disease subsides in the capital city. The people still do not know the cause of the disease, but they carry out a festival of thanks at this auspicious change of fortune.

Sketch Town is a town that grows and evolves according to the pictures drawn by children.

After the 2-D drawings of the cars, buildings, UFOs, and spaceships are completed, they are scanned, become 3-D and enter a virtual 3-D townscape. Every component of the town has a role to play; for example, the fire trucks and cranes serve to protect the town. Children can interact with the final townscape by touching individual components to alter their behavior.

Create! Hopscotch for Geniuses is the digital version of the childhood game hopscotch. Participants are invited to create their own hopscotch course, consisting of projected circular, triangular, and square shapes. Each participant is able to determine the level of difficulty while making full use of his or her imaginative and creative skills. Different sound effects and beautiful images emerge as participants land on the same shape or color in succession. 

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.

Rolling a light-ball changes its color and sound. Combined, the light-balls form an orchestra! 
The overhead light-balls communicate with those on the floor, as one is touched,  the surrounding balls will be affected, changing the color of the entire space. Roll the light-ball in front of you and it will change color and release sound. In the same space participants use their bodies, interacting with the different-sized light-balls to change the color of the space and to make music.