Gallery Guide: teamLab At The Museum!
Digital artwork never looked so good
Hello everyone! Long time, no Substack post. I apologize for the lack of content recently. I have been dealing with some personal life stuff and have lacked the energy and motivation to write. However, I love using the Notes feature on here to bring some fun, quick musings or photos for everyone to enjoy, so if you are missing my longer form article, look to the Notes section for some content.
Anyways, enough about the emotional stuff; on with the article!
Welcoming The Digital Art!
At the art museum, we recently acquired two digital art pieces from a company called teamLab (more on them in a minute). One is located in the museum lobby, while the other is on its own, in-between floor (like an alcove), and both incorporate themes of nature, but in different ways.
teamLab Art 1: Universe of Water Particles, 2013 (continuous loop)
From The Label:
Universe of Water Particles is a digital waterfall created in 3-D space. Using the laws of physics as a guide, a computer calculates the flow of thousands of water particles over a computer sculpted rock. From these particles, only a fraction are drawn as lines. Their curving movement recalls the way water was depicted in premodern Japanese painting, where rivers and oceans were shown as living, flowing forms. As viewers watch the waterfall, the sense of distance between self and artwork can dissolve, creating the feeling of standing within flowing water—and inviting viewers to see themselves as part of nature.
teamLab Art 2: Proliferating Immense Life – Dawn and Dusk, A Whole Year per Year, 2023
From The Label:
In this artwork, time itself shapes the scene, along with the actions of visitors. As the sun rises, the space brightens; as it sets, it darkens. The flowers also change with the seasons and react to people nearby—glowing, then withering, scattering, and fading as viewers stand close.
Special Instructions:
Please approach this work and let it respond to your presence. There is no need to touch the screen—simply standing behind the line on the floor will allow the artwork to sense your presence.
Who Are teamLab?
teamLab is, well, a team. It’s an art collective1 compiled of several individuals who specialize in various skill sets, and bring those skills together to create some very cool- looking, and beautiful art. The collective is made up of members who come from the following industries: art, programming, engineering, animation, architects, and even mathematicians. It’s basically like a STEAM group got together and decided to create museum exhibitions.
teamLab was founded in 2001 and their mission was “to navigate the confluence of art, science, technology, and the natural world.”
teamLab wanted to transcend the viewer’s boundaries and perceptions of the relationship of self and the world, everything is “fragile, and borderless.”
Where To View teamLab Art?
Despite being an international art collective, teamLab’s home base is in Japan, and currently does not have an permanent digital art museums in the United States. The most well-known of the permanent exhibitions are teamLab Borderless and teamLab Planets. Currently, teamLab has began to expand their reach and permanent exhibitions are starting to pop up around other countries in Asia.
However, teamlab has held temporary exhibitions at art locations like the Pace Gallery in New York, and the San Antonio Museum of Art.
📚 Resources 📚
Want to learn more about teamLab and their amazing work? Check out the links below.
teamLab Art Concepts & Exhibitions (past & present)
Thank you so much for reading Art Bites!
I’ll see you in the next article. 😀
💖 K.A. Vandercoy
An artist collective is a group of artists who work together, sharing resources, costs, and responsibilities to achieve shared goals, such as creating and exhibiting art, improving their skills, or advancing specific social or political causes.