Art collective teamLab will open a permanent nighttime exhibition, ‘teamLab Botanical Garden Osaka,’ at Nagai Botanical Garden in Osaka in the summer of 2022.

The Nagai Botanical Garden, which originally opened in 1974, reopened on April 1, 2022, after tree thinning, tree rearrangement and replanting to accommodate new root growth, and soil improvement to create an environment where plants can thrive and grow in the far future. The garden covers over 240,000 square meters and is home to 1,200 species of plants, flowers, and trees.

This summer, teamLab will transform the garden into an art space where the past, present, and future intersect, blending with nature’s changing seasons and the presence of guests.

TeamLab’s environmentally friendly art project, ‘Digitized Nature,’ aims to show “nature itself becoming art in its natural state” by using only digital technology. Nothing in the gardens needs to be destroyed to create art.

At teamLab Botanical Garden Osaka, the daytime botanical garden will become an art space at night. The space will be transformed by actual wind and rain, as well as by the behavior of the birds and the actions of visitors to the site. 

Come enjoy an illuminated garden filled with art on a warm night this summer!

©チームラボ

From July 15 until November 6, 2022, the ‘teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live’ exhibition at Mifuneyama Rakuen, an ancient forest at the Takeo Hot Springs in Saga Prefecture. The massive event is held each summer and fall and was named CNN World’s ‘Best Outdoor Art Exhibition to Visit’ in 2021 and one of the Top 10 Art Installations in the world by DesignboomMagazine in 2017.

Works on Display

Universe of Water Particles on a Sacred Rock, 2017

Drawing on the Water Surface Created by the Dance of Koi and Boats – Mifuneyama Rakuen Pond, 2015

Ever Blossoming Life Rock, 2017

 Life is Continuous Light – Azalea Valley, 2017

Rock Wall Spatial Calligraphy, Continuous Life – Five Hundred Arhats, 2017

Split Rock and Enso, 2017

Resonating Forest – Cherry Blossoms and Maple, 2017

Megaliths in the Bath House Ruins, 2019

Graffiti Nature – Living in the Ruins of a Bathhouse, Red List, 2017-

Resonating Forest in the Ravine, 2019

Abstract and Concrete – Forest Entrance, 2018

Flowers Bloom in an Infinite Universe inside a Teacup, 2016

Forest and Spiral of Resonating Lamps in the Forest – One Stroke, Summer Forest, 2018

Mifuneyama is said to have risen from the Ariake Sea 3 million years ago. The 500,000 square meter Mifuneyama Rakuen Park was created in 1845, at the end of the Edo period. The park is home to megaliths, caves, and forests that have been slowly shaped over thousands of years. teamLab believes that the shapes and textures of these objects are important, serving as traces of ancient people and natural changes over time.  The concept of the project is that non-material digital technology can turn nature into art without harming it.

The creative team will be holding a number of other high-profile exhibitions this year, including installations in Paris, Tallinn, Shanghai, and Geneva. Their sauna collaboration with TikTok for teamLab Reconnect in Roppongi made huge waves in 2021–guests would take alternating hot and cold baths to experience intense physical sensations while surrounded by digital art.

The ‘Tea Time in the Soy Sauce Storehouse’ exhibition by teamLab has been extended! Located at the Fukuoka Soy Sauce gallery, those interested can now come and see this incredible work of art until March 31, 2023.

 Tea in Spontaneous Order – Dynamic Equilibrium Color. ©teamLab

The former Fukuoka Soy Sauce Building was built in the Meiji era and was once used for soy sauce production. The basement is now a tea room filled with black water with lanterns floating on top. Touching one will cause it to light, and will cause a spontaneous order phenomenon. A spontaneous order phenomenon occurs when different rhythms are influenced by each other and become aligned. Examples include when the pendulums of two clocks gradually begin to swing together when many fireflies gather in one tree and all start flashing at the same time.

The exhibition has been incredibly popular since it opened on April 15, 2021. Due to the ongoing effects of the pandemic, teamLab wants more people to be able to come to experience this unique art performance, hence why the exhibition has been extended.

Spring scenery will welcome guests to the teamLab Borderless exhibit at the Mori Building Digital Art Museum starting March 2, 2022. teamLab Borderless is a group of artworks that form one borderless world. Artworks move out of rooms, communicate with other works, influence, and sometimes intermingle with each other with no boundaries. They also shift depending on the season.

teamLab Borderless in Odaiba is scheduled to close on August 31, 2022, so this will be the only chance to catch this incredible display!

Forest of Resonating Lamps – One Stroke, Cherry Blossoms, teamLab, 2019

Forest of Resonating Lamps – One Stroke, Spring Mountain Fields, teamLab, 2019

Proliferating Immense Life – A Whole Year per Year, teamLab, 2020

Memory of Topography, teamLab, 2018

Flowers in Layered Ultrasubjective Space, teamLab, 2018

Flowers Bloom in an Infinite Universe inside a Teacup, teamLab, 2016

Tea Tree, teamLab, 2018

Drawing Factory

Each installation will filter through new colors and illustrations. A Whole Year per Year will include new spring flowers, multiplying to over 100,000 blooms before dispersing around guests. ‘Memory of Topography’ depicts a massive landscape based on Japan’s four seasons, and in March and April, cherry blossoms and lavender will appear beside terraced rice paddies, wisteria trellises, and gently flowing rivers. 

At the Drawing Factory, guests can also make their own original goods to be taken home as keepsakes. Get your creation printed on T-shirts, pins, or hand towels!

The permanent museum teamLab Forest Fukuoka is bringing cherry blossoms to the virtual exhibition for a limited time only beginning March 1, 2022. A number of animals made of spring flowers will be roaming through the three-dimensional space, and you won’t want to miss this memorable experience!

A Whole Year per Year / Shifting Valley, Living Creatures of Flowers, Symbiotic Lives – A Whole Year per Year

A Whole Year per Year / Animals of Flowers, Symbiotic Lives II – A Whole Year per Year

A Whole Year per Year / Soft Terrain and Granular Topography – A Whole Year per Year

A Whole Year per Year / Flutter of Butterflies, Ephemeral Life – A Whole Year per Year

TeamLab’s works are created in real-time by procedural generation, meaning that they are always changing and evolving. The works also change with each season. Both Shifting Valley, Living Creatures of Flowers, Symbiotic Lives – A Whole Year per Year and Animals of Flowers, Symbiotic Lives II – A Whole Year per Year are only available to see during the spring. Enjoy wandering through colorful landscapes as you’re surrounded by butterflies and sakura blossoms while you can!

On December 23, 2021, the digital art collective TeamLab unveiled ‘Megaliths in the Garden,’ an interactive work of art at the One ITA shopping mall in Xujiahui, one of the largest commercial districts in Shanghai. This permanent exhibit shows the birth, bloom, and fall of the white magnolia and other local flowers throughout the year, and also changes in response to visitors’ movements. 

In ‘Megaliths in the Garden,’ the flowers that bloom in the area throughout the year are born and die in eternal repetition from hour to hour. When people approach each piece, the flowers fall, and when they stay still more bloom. The plants will also change to suit the particular season. How would you like to visit Shanghai to see this incredible digital art piece?

Interactive digital art collective TeamLab will hold the Kairaku-en (Japanese Garden) Festival of Light at one of Japan’s three most beloved gardens located in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture from February 1 until March 31, 2022. A total of eight creative works showcasing the ‘longevity of life’ will be on display, utilizing the greenery of the surrounding 180-year-old garden itself. One work will illuminate over 1,500 plum trees, while another will see giant cedars interacting to guests’ presence. During this period, the Mito Ume Festival (February 11 – March 21) will also take place at the gardens. The festival has been held continuously for over 120 years.

Kairakuen is one of the three most famous gardens in Japan and was built by Tokugawa Nariaki during the Edo period (1842). The other two gardens are Kenroku-en in Ishikawa Prefecture and Koraku-en in Okayama Prefecture. In 1922, Kairaku-en was designated a National Historic Site and also a National Place of Scenic Beauty. In 2022, the garden will celebrate its 180th anniversary, and features over 3,000 plum trees of over 100 varieties. 

TeamLab’s ‘Digitized Nature’ art project utilizes technology to ‘turn nature itself into art in its natural state’ without destroying or uprooting any of the plants or trees. It can be difficult for humans to imagine the world that will exist after their particular life ends, and this installation hopes to show the beauty that is possible even after a hundred or a thousand years. Through the combination of human creations and nature itself, TeamLab wants to remind people what is possible when we live side by side in harmony with one another. 

The permanent museum teamLab Forest Fukuoka is bringing winter scenery to the virtual exhibition for a limited time starting November 20, 2021. Many of the virtual exhibits will be covered in fluffy snowflakes as butterflies flutter by in seasonal winter colors. Animals made of winter flowers will wander by guests as they explore this magical world. 

Works to Feature Seasonal Changes

Soft Terrain and Granular Topography – A Whole Year per Year – teamLab, 2020

Flutter of Butterflies, Ephemeral Life – A Whole Year per Year – teamLab, 2020

Shifting Valley, Living Creatures of Flowers, Symbiotic Lives – A Whole Year per Year – teamLab, 2020

Animals of Flowers, Symbiotic Lives II – A Whole Year per Year – teamLab, 2019

teamLab’s works are drawn in real-time by computer programs and are constantly changing and evolving, with many changing with the seasons. This is the perfect place to enjoy the winter season out of the cold!

Art collective teamLab has made a splash with their Reconnect exhibition, inviting visitors to enjoy a number of alternating hot and cold baths to transform their senses as they traverse a massive and constantly transforming art exhibition. From October 18 until November 23, the exhibition will feature incredible autumn scenery, including the piece ‘Proliferating Immense Life in the Rain – A Whole Year per Year.’ This constantly-moving image is not pre-recorded, but rather, the leaves will sway and respond to visitors’ movements. Due to the popularity of the exhibition, more ticket plans are now available, including morning tickets for limited entry on weekdays. Guests can also reserve one sauna room for private use.

Ephemeral Solidified Light
teamLab, 2021, Interactive Installation, Sound: teamLab

Step into the Light Circle
teamLab, 2021, Interactive Digital Installation, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi, teamLab

A Whole Year per Year / Proliferating Immense Life in the Rain – A Whole Year per Year
teamLab, 2020, Interactive Digital Installation, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi

Levitation
teamLab, 2021, Digital Installation, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi

In collaboration with popular app TikTok, Reconnect aims to be a more down-to-Earth art experience. Rather than going to a prestigious museum, guests are invited to reconnect with the world and with the concept of time as they explore the exhibition. With senses heightened by the use of each sauna, visitors might find that they are able to relax and experience the beauty of the world more than ever before. 

Art collective teamLab has announced a massive new interactive art space coming to C Future City in Shenzhen, China! Set to open in the summer of 2022, the facility will also house a permanent installation of teamLab Future Park, an educational virtual ‘amusement park’ inviting kids and adults to create things together.

Universe of Water Particles and People Create Vortices
teamLab, 2021　

teamLab Future Park

C Future City will permanently house four gigantic interactive public artworks that will be forever changing and shifting, influenced by people’s behavior. Art by teamLab is always inspired by how people connect with one another, so the installation completely relies on those who come to experience it. 

This so-called ‘amusement park of the future’ project was born out of the idea that co-creativity could transform people and cities. Rather than being an individualistic endeavor, teamLabs wants people to come together to bring new ideas and pieces to life. 

Look forward to teamLab’s new installation in Shenzhen in Summer 2022!

Autumn has shaped up to be a great time for art lovers to explore Japan, with a number of inspiring exhibitions of all different genres popping up around the country. The editorial team at Moshi Moshi Nippon has taken special notice of three must-visit events still open now, so be sure to check these out while you still can!

[Tokyo] ‘Shonen, Shou’ 

Yasunari Ikenaga, a leading figure in the world of contemporary beauty painting, is currently holding an exhibition featuring portraits of the up-and-coming actor and model Shou. Pay special attention to the delicate techniques the artist utilizes to capture the subject’s expressions. 

Running: Until October 15, 2021

Details: https://www.moshimoshi-nippon.jp/497728

[Fukuoka] teamLab Forest

Art collective teamLab has opened a permanent museum in Fukuoka City! Those wanting to see the interactive exhibits transformed for autumn, however, better hurry before the event ends.

Now Open

Details: https://www.moshimoshi-nippon.jp/500506

[Saitama] Machi Tawara: #JustOneLike – From Salad Anniversary to Size of the Future

Japanese poet Machi Tawara, the winner of the Kadokawa Tanka Award in 1986, is a powerhouse in the world of prose. Her 1987 book Salad Anniversary sold over three million copies, and 35 years later, the writer is still at the forefront of her field. This exhibition depicts her life in words and is sure to inspire. 

Running: Until December 5, 2021

Details: https://www.moshimoshi-nippon.jp/500300

Text: Natalie (MOSHI MOSHI NIPPON）

Art collective teamLab, popular for its digital art installations, will open a large-scale art space in Hamburg, Germany in 2024. ‘teamLab Borderless Hamburg: Digital Art Museum’ will consist of a series of immersive works by the collective, inspired by the idea that all things are connected. Permanent exhibitions from teamLab are currently on display in Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai, Macau, and other global cities, with more set to open in Beijing, Utrecht, and Jeddah, in the near future. 

Forest of Resonating Lamps – One Stroke. 2016. 

Forest of Flowers and People: Lost, Immersed and Reborn. 2017. 

Crows are Chased and the Chasing Crows are Destined to be Chased as well, Transcending Space. 2017. 

 A Whole Year per Year / Proliferating Immense Life – A Whole Year per Year. 2020. 

Chromatic Light Wall. 2019.

Birth. 2019.

Wander through the Crystal World. 2018.

Memory of Topography. 2018. 

teamLab’s boundary-less art swirls and moves, interacting with other pieces, influencing each other, and blending together to create new works. Visitors will experience art without walls, and inspiration will certainly come as they wander through these incredible installations. 

In 2018, in its first year of operation, teamLab Borderless in Odaiba, Tokyo, welcome 2.3 million visitors from more than 160 countries around the world. This incredible success earned it an impressive accolade: as a single artist’s museum, it recorded the largest annual number of visitors in the world, surpassing the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. The museum was also named one of the ‘World’s Greatest Places 2019’ by TIME Magazine.