Prayer | teamLab

Pointillism is a genre of paintings that expresses the subject matter through a series of points. This interactive sculpture, however, consists of a set of points of light that are used to express three-dimensional objects. For this work, a three-dimensional interactive flame is produced by the points of light.

When people release a flame from their smartphones, the flames in the space increase in intensity.

Flames are a phenomenon of light and heat generated by combustion, not a substance, but our sensory experience when we see a chemical reaction called combustion. People perceive the flame, a sensory experience, as if it were an object, and sometimes feel life in it.

Flames often appear to have a hierarchy of colors from their outside to the center: red on the outside, strong bright white on the inside, and dark in the center. In the case of a raw egg, the outer shell is white, the interior is transparent, and the center is yellow, but because it is a three-dimensional object, only the white shell is visible from the outside. Unlike an egg, the flame is a three-dimensional object made of light, and the strong bright white inside is still white when mixed with the red outside. Therefore, the flame, which is a three-dimensional object, appears as if it were a flat painting with a color hierarchy, no matter where you look at it.

By creating a three-dimensional flame with a collection of points of light, the three-dimensional flame sculpture moves back and forth between three and two dimensions.

When people stand on the work, a black absolute presence is created, and the shape of the flames change. The work is affected by people, and is in a state of perpetual, continuous change.

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.