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Kaleidoscopic Installations Invite People into a Hi-Tech Multisensory Experience

When you stand among the handiwork of teamLab, a Japanese tech art studio, you’re seemingly transported to a sprawling foreign land that engulfs you in a vibrant, light-filled splendor. This immersive approach is now the focus of a massive exhibition that spans 3,000 square meters (over 32,000 square feet) and is called DMM.Planets Art by teamLab. It showcases a variety of the group’s digital work throughout the years, including new pieces just revealed to the public.

The exhibition features four spaces that offer kaleidoscopic color schemes and multisensory activities. Each piece has its own distinct smell, including: the aroma of flowers, a forest, and “the universe”—a scent that astronaut Naoko Yamazaki helped create.

Though the teamLab works all have a different look and feel, interactivity is woven throughout the entire show. In Wander Through the Crystal Universe, the collective installed countless LEDs that hang in the mirrored space. As you walk through it, the hue and intensity of the lights change, making you the “center of the universe.” Alternatively, you can change the space (and take yourself out of the spotlight) with the touch of your smartphone.

Above: Wander Through the Crystal Universe

Wander Through the Crystal Universe

Wander Through the Crystal Universe

Wander Through the Crystal Universe

Wander Through the Crystal Universe

Wander Through the Crystal Universe

Other works include wading through water with light-generated koi fish. As you walk through the vibrant liquid, the direction of the creatures is altered. In the event you “collide” with the koi, they morph into flowers and scatter in the space. Another piece also features prominent blooms and is titled Floating in the Falling Universe of Flowers. Here, you use your phone to select butterflies and release them into the floral decorated space, continually “growing” plants that cycle through the four seasons.

Drawing on the Water Surface Created by the Dance of Koi and People—Infinity

Drawing on the Water Surface Created by the Dance of Koi and People—Infinity

Drawing on the Water Surface Created by the Dance of Koi and People—Infinity

Drawing on the Water Surface Created by the Dance of Koi and People—Infinity

Drawing on the Water Surface Created by the Dance of Koi and People—Infinity

Drawing on the Water Surface Created by the Dance of Koi and People—Infinity

Floating in the Falling Universe of Flowers

Soft Black Hole—Your Body Becomes a Space That Influences Another Body

The engaging exhibition is part of Fuji Television’s summer event called Odaiba Minna No Yume Tairiku and is on view until the end of August 2016.

teamLab: Website | Facebook
via [designboom]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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