KENPOKU ART 2016 Special Exhibition "teamLab: Infinity of Flowers inside Small Things" | teamLab

teamLab has been working on the Spatial Calligraphy series for over 10 years. Spatial Calligraphy is a new interpretation of traditional calligraphy, it reconstructs Japanese calligraphy in 3 dimensional space and expresses the depth, speed and power of the brush stroke.

The infinity symbol, ∞  and circle are part of a Zen tradition of ensou, the practice of creating a calligraphic circle in a single brushstroke. In this work, the infinity and circle motifs were constructed in computer space and are being continuously drawn for eternity.

Using virtual reality headsets, people can enter into the computer world and use the controller to draw their own spatial calligraphy. The calligraphy then slowly rotates and floats upwards and becomes a part of the infinity and circle to form a floating sculpture.

The calligraphy is continuously drawn in real time using a computer program. It is not a playback of prerecorded images; new calligraphy is continuously created, without duplicating previous works. The same calligraphy that is viewable one moment can never be seen again.

This artwork is in a state of continuous change. Aligned to the passing hours of the day and over a period of one year, a seasonal year of flowers blossom and scatter. Flowers are born, grow and blossom in profusion before the petals scatter and the flowers wither and fade away. The cycle of birth and death repeats itself, continuing for eternity. The artwork is created in two versions: one with “A Whole Year per Hour, Dark” and another with “A Whole Year per Year, Dark”.

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.

Nature brings us both blessings and disaster, and with the progress of civilization there are benefits and negative implications; nature and civilization are always connected. There is no absolute evil or true beauty. There is no easy way to understand, no simple way to arrange our feelings and our sensitivities. We must face every situation as it comes, to not despair, to face forward, and to go on with life.

teamLab has been working on the Spatial Calligraphy series since the collective formed. Spatial Calligraphy offers a contemporary interpretation of traditional Japanese sho (calligraphy) in an abstract space. It reconstructs Japanese sho in three-dimensional space and expresses the depth, speed, and power of the brushstroke. Butterflies, birds, animals, plants, and flowers appear from the calligraphy expressing the passing of the seasons. According to Zen Buddhist writing, “In all living things Buddha nature dwells.” All things are impermanent and the natural appearance of things is the Buddha nature. What we put into shape is that which we, the living, think is the heart of life.