Deep-time Sculpted Existence
2026
인간은 보통 자신이 살아온 시간을 아득히 초월하는 긴 시간의 존재를 가늠하거나, 그 시간이 '지금'과 이어져 있음을 인식하지 못한다. 긴 시간의 연속성을 받아들이는 데에는 인식상의 경계가 존재하기 때문이다.
하지만 적나라히 드러난 지층의 절벽과 마주했을 때, 그 압도적인 형태와 질감 속에 방대한 시간이 축적되어 있음을 깨닫게 된다. 지층, 절벽, 계곡, 동굴, 폭포, 깊은 숲. 그곳에는 지구의 시간, 융기, 침식, 물의 흐름, 생명의 영위가 겹쳐져 거대한 존재로서 솟아오르고 있다.
teamLab은 이렇듯 유구한 시간이 새겨 놓은 거대한 존재를 ‘Deep-time Sculpted Existence’라고 이름 붙였다.
‘Deep-time Sculpted Existence’은 인간이 대지를 조각하는 것이 아니라, 지구의 시간, 융기, 침식, 물의 흐름 등이 조각한 존재를 연속되는 생명과 인간의 현재가 교차하는 공간으로 포착하여 바라본다.
이는 자연을 파괴하지 않고 자연 그 자체를 예술로 만드는 ‘Digitized Nature’에서의 생각을 지질학적 시간의 스케일로 확장하는 개념이다. 자연은 공간으로서뿐만 아니라 깊은 시간을 내재한 존재로서 나타난다. ‘Deep-time Sculpted Existence’는 그 존재를 시간·생명·환경·신체가 연속되는 공간으로 확장해 나간다.
작품 ’Continuous Life and Death at the Now of Deep Time’에서는 거대한 지층의 계곡이라는 ‘Deep-time Sculpted Existence’ 속에서 꽃들은 탄생과 사멸을 반복하며 연속되는 생명의 시간을 이어가고, 작품 세계는 지금을 살아가는 사람들의 존재에 의해 변모해 간다.
계곡의 심연으로 들어가 헤맬 때, 축적된 방대한 시간은 과거에 머물러 있지 않고 지금이라는 순간과 연속되어 있음을 드러낸다. 지구의 시간, 연속되는 생명의 시간, 인간의 현재가 중첩될 때 인간은 긴 시간의 연속성 위에 자신의 존재가 있음을 온몸으로 실감한다.
‘Deep-time Sculpted Existence’는 지구의 시간이 조각한 존재를 인간이 그 안으로 들어가 시간의 연속성을 온몸으로 실감하는 공간으로 제시한다. 그리고 시간에 대한 인식상의 경계의 해체를 모색한다.
인간은 세계를 밖에서 바라보고 있는 것이 아니다. 긴 시간, 생명, 환경, 신체가 연속되는 공간 속에 있으며, 그 안에서 존재를 인식하고 있다.
RELATED EXHIBITIONS
FEATURED WORKS
Continuous Life and Death at the Now of Deep Time
teamLab, 2026, from the series <i>Ever Blossoming Life Waterfall - Deep in the Mountains of Shikoku</i>, 2016-, Interactive Installation, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi
The deep valleys and sheer cliffs of the Yoro Valley were formed over hundreds of thousands of years as the earth lifted layers of rock that had accumulated over 3 million years. The flow of water carved out the strata, exposing the memories of the earth.*
People are usually unable to perceive the existence of periods of time far longer than their own lives, and that that time is continuous with the now. However, when confronting the exposed cliffs of the strata, people realize that an endlessly long accumulated time is inherent within its overwhelming shape and texture.
We named this giant existence carved by eternal time, Deep-time Sculpted Existence.
Within this giant existence, flowers repeat the cycle of life and death, the time of continuous life flows, and it continues to transform due to the existence of people living in the present.
Entering the depths of the valley, wandering, and becoming one with this overwhelming existence, it becomes apparent that the endlessly long accumulated time is continuous with this very moment.
And when walking through the overlap of these two times, people physically realize that their own existence is part of a boundless continuity of a long, long time.
* In Yoro Valley, there is a geomagnetic reversal stratum that retains the clearest traces in the world of the reversal of the earth's magnetic field (North and South poles). Due to the historical value of this stratum, the geological age from approximately 774,000 to 129,000 years ago has been named, Chibanian (Chiba Age), the first geological age to be named after a place in Japan.
Ever Blossoming Life Waterfall - Deep in the Mountains of Shikoku
teamLab, 2016 - 2017, Digitized Nature, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi
Flowers bloom and scatter for eternity onto a powerful waterfall and the rocks, formed of a long period of time, that surround it. A seasonal year of the the flowers of this region change over time.
Flowers are born, they grow, bud, bloom, and eventually scatter, wither, and fade away. The flowers are in a continuous cycle of birth and death, repeating forever.
Life has been created on an overwhelming scale and time span over billions of years on Earth, repeating on an eternal life cycle. However, it is difficult for humans to easily perceive this.
Rocks are inorganic and non-living, over the years the natural shape of the rock is modeled by the waterfall. As a result the rock can be thought of as a sculptural block that embodies the power of life.
Flowers Bloom under the Waterfall in the Gorge - Ōboke Koboke
teamLab, 2016, Digitized Nature, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi
The world we know has been created by the powerful cycle of life, repeating endlessly on an overwhelming scale over billions of years on earth.
Water is the source of life. Flowers bloom and scatter for eternity on the surface of the water as the forcefully flowing river collides with the sides of the gorge. The flowers are born, they grow, bud, bloom, and eventually scatter, wither, and fade away. In other words, the flowers go through the cycle of birth and death eternally.
The waterfall falls over a cliff that has been formed over a long period of time by the strong flowing river that runs through the steep rock face of the gorge. The fall of the waterfall is physically calculated in relation to the actual cliff form onto which it is projected. The water is represented as a continuous body of hundreds of thousands of water particles. A computer calculates the movement and interaction of the particles to produce a simulation of water that flows in accordance with the laws of physics. Lines are drawn in relation to a selection of the particles, this collection of lines depicts a waterfall on the steep cliff of the gorge.
This artwork is in continuous change; over a period of one hour a seasonal year of flowers blossoms and scatters. Neither a prerecorded animation nor on loop, the work is rendered in real time by a computer program. Previous visual states can never be replicated, and will never reoccur.